The Princess and the Arsonist
by Silken Ink
Summary: In a kingdom where Princess Heartfilia is good for nothing more than a political marriage, can she ever find true happiness... or true love? Enter Natsu... a mysterious traveler who wants to show her that life can be so much more. Will these two star-crossed lovers somehow make it work, or will they be torn apart by the powers against them? NaLu obviously. ;D (part 2 out now!)
1. CH 1: Lady Luck

**Author's Note**

Hello all! Well… I did it again. I said I'd get something done in a jiffy and it's taken me… what? Two or three months? . ACK! *_Hides behind couch to avoid popcorn being thrown at her_* I'm sorry, I'm sorry!

Ahem, anyways… moving on. I have some **IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THIS STORY: PLEASE READ**! (that was for everyone who's like me and forgets to read the Author's Notes, I'm not yelling at you lovely people who already are)

First up, this is going to be a two-part story (meaning I'll be posting Part One and Two as separate stories.) And _hopefully_ by the time we're done with this one, I'll be ready to post the second story _*knocks on wood.* _But knowing me there might be a gap between Part One and Part Two.

And there's a few things you need to know about Part One of this story. It's a slow burn romance, and there won't be any lemons in part one, those will all be in Part Two. _*Ducks back behind couch to dodge another barrage of popcorn.* _Yes, yes I know! I'm sorry! I promise to make it up to you in Part Two.

ALSO, Part One does contain some _**hefty angst**_, and has a couple of triggering scenes. I'll give you warnings in my Author's Notes when something nasty is coming up. I'll try and make it so I don't spoil anything though, so the warnings might be a little vague.

As for my upload schedule, I'm going to be posting generally every other Sunday. Sorry guys, I know you're used to me posting every week, but I have to start really cracking down hard on my own novels now, and I need a little more time for that.

Alrighty, I think that's just about it! I'll be keeping my usual 'rating rules:' if this chapter gets 10 reviews by the next time I post, I'll give you all a juicy sneak peak at the end of the new chapter. ;D Looking forward to chatting with you all again!

Now, on with the show!

* * *

Lucy woke as usual to the sound of her grumpy maid snapping at her.

"Wake up! Are you planning to sleep all day?!"

With a groan, she opened her eyes and peered blearily around her room, immediately noticing the scowling woman standing over her.

"Good morning to you too, Aquarius…" she sighed, sitting up and yawning.

"Good morning my ass. I have a million other things I could be doing right now, and you can't even be up when I get here?"

"Sorry."

"Well hurry up! I don't have all day!"

"Okay, okay..." Lucy mumbled sleepily, fumbling her way out of bed.

Despite her harsh words and demeanor, Aquarius's hands were gentle – but fast and efficient – as she whipped Lucy's nightgown over her head and quickly slapped a corset around her waist. Spinning her around, the maid started lacing her up, and soon Lucy had to wake up a little more so she could grab onto the bedpost and keep herself upright as she was yanked around. The discomfort was familiar, but that didn't make it any less unpleasant.

Ever since hitting puberty, she'd had to wear one – according to her father – so she would develop a shape that would make men want to marry her.

'_Because of course that's all I'm good for,'_ she thought sourly and grimaced as she caught a glimpse of her hourglass shape in the mirror while Aquarius was tying off her laces. Her only consolation was that she was too thin to be 'beautiful' according to most people's standards. Her limbs were pencil thin and a lot of her bones were visible… she was downright skinny to sum it up with a word. There were a couple reasons for it that she couldn't control – the corset prevented her from eating a lot at once and she tended to have a very acidic stomach from stress – but she had also intentionally chosen to limit her calorie intake. It was the only thing she could do to make herself less attractive, and since she definitely _didn't_ want to get married off, that seemed like a good thing in her book.

Lucy's sour musings were interrupted when Aquarius finally finished squeezing her into the idiotic underwear and tossed a white day dress over her head. The princess would have loved to dress herself, but everything in her wardrobe was basically impossible to put on alone. For example, this dress had a ridiculous row of tiny buttons in the back that Lucy had no hope of wrangling. It was downright ridiculous that she could only wear fancy ankle-length dresses… she would give anything to wear some of the cute things that other girls wore. Being a princess had its downsides – especially when her father was so stuffy and old fashioned. The man was stuck in the stone ages as far as she was concerned.

After getting dressed, she made a quick stop at her vanity to put on a little makeup while Aquarius styled her hair, and then the fussy maid was hustling her out the door.

"You need to hurry and get to breakfast before your father has a temper tantrum," the bluenette snapped as she escorted her mistress to the large dining room where she and her father had breakfast together every day.

Lucy didn't dare drag her feet… though she wanted to. King Heartfilia could be _very_ unpleasant when he was upset, and she'd rather avoid getting scolded if possible.

When she arrived, he was already there – looking cranky and impatient as usual – and she murmured a quiet greeting as she sat at the opposite end of their excessively long table. Aquarius bowed and left swiftly, off to do whatever it was she did when she wasn't helping Lucy.

"You're late. Again," he said instead of a good morning.

"I'm sorry, Father."

"Apologies will get you nowhere if you can't be punctual."

"Yes sir."

He huffed and signaled one of the servers to bring out the food. Within seconds, dishes had been laid on the table and they were being served a starter course of fresh fruit, cheese, croissants, and butter. Lucy picked at her food, as always. Her stomach growled, but she'd learned how to ignore it by now.

As for her father….

"You should eat more; you're growing much too thin. It's unsightly."

Every week, they had this discussion… though it was less of a discussion and more of a one-sided lecture on her father's part.

"How am I supposed to find you a husband if you're skin and bones? You know how important it is to make a good match that will benefit the kingdom. It's your duty as the crown princess."

She silently thought, '_to benefit your wallet, you mean,'_ but held her tongue and just said, "Yes, Father."

"If you understand, then eat!"

"Yes, Father," she said, resisting the urge to grumble, and made a big show of taking a few bites of fruit.

"Good."

He nodded in satisfaction, and then there was silence at the table as they both dealt with their food… which let her stew.

It was degrading that he only thought she was capable of helping their kingdom with a political marriage. One time she'd asked him if he considered her his heir – which was a fair question since she was his only child – but he had only laughed at her and said she wasn't a son. Instead, he planned to remarry and produce some sons this time around. As hurtful as that was, at least it meant he spent a lot of time away from home shopping for a new wife in nearby kingdoms… so she didn't have to see him quite as much.

Her brooding came to a standstill when he broke the silence to say, "I have ordered you a new dress for the ball this weekend. Make sure to go to the fittings on time."

"… Yes sir."

She bit her lip and distracted herself from the surge of frustration and anxiety by trying to pick the blackberry seeds out of her teeth with the tip of her tongue.

After a small wait, she gathered up enough courage to formally inquire, "I still feel somewhat unwell though… perhaps we could postpone the ball?"

His head snapped up and he glared at her. "Absolutely not! Doctor Capri has assured me that you're perfectly healthy, so I will not accept any more excuses! Do you have any idea how much these social functions cost? Or how many invitations have to be sent out? We've already had to send out two sets of apology letters for postponing as long as we have!"

She desperately wanted to protest and put up a fight, but once again she just murmured, "Yes, Father."

The rest of their shared meal was done in silence, since there were no more criticisms or announcements her father wanted to make.

The tension was still highly unpleasant though and her stomach soured, making acid crawl up her throat. As soon as she was freed from the prison of breakfast with her father, she hurried off as fast as she could, eager to get away from him.

Her next destination was the music room, where she was supposed to take lessons for several hours. Every day she had to attend a certain amount of private tutoring sessions, where she spent hours learning things that were necessary for a princess to know – at least according to her father.

Today, she would be practicing the violin… one instrument among several that she'd had to learn over the course of her eighteen years of life.

When she was much younger, Lucy had loved music and learning how to create it… probably because her mother had been her tutor. Her very first instruments had been the harp and her own voice, because she had begged her mother to teach her. Every night, and often during the day, her mother had sung and played the harp for her, and it was the most beautiful sound that Lucy had ever heard, so she had wanted to learn to do the same.

Of course, she'd never come close to the music her mother created, because Lucy couldn't summon the celestial harp that gave her mother musical abilities far beyond a normal human being's. And now that she could… she refused to do so.

Since her mother had passed on her powers to Lucy shortly before she died, the thought of using them was too painful to even consider. It was a little strange really, since she often talked to her mother and even visited her grave without breaking down… but Lucy couldn't visit her mother's bedroom, or smell her perfume, or use her magic without falling apart. Physical and sensorial reminders always made her grief much sharper than anything else – which was why she refused to play the harp anymore.

She still had to take her music lessons and learn how to play other instruments though. Before the violin, she'd been tutored in piano, flute, and clarinet – not that she was particularly good at the wind instruments. She was much better with strings.

She had never particularly enjoyed the music lessons, even before her mother had died… but at least when she was alive, Lucy could play the new instruments for her mother. Now, learning music was just unpleasant and even somewhat painful, since it reminded her of the times spent showing her mother what she'd learned.

It also didn't help that her music tutor was fairly demanding and difficult to get along with. Mr. Aquila was a perfectionist and didn't handle mistakes very well, so her lessons tended to be full of scolding and disapproving looks.

As she finally arrived at the music room and rested her hand on the door handle, she sighed and rolled her eyes to the high ceilings, searching for a little patience to get through the first half of today.

"Ah! Princess, you're here. Excellent. Let us begin," Mr. Aquila said brusquely as soon as she entered the music room, sounding impatient and stuffy.

He was pristine as usual in a white tux coat, white gloves, and a golden chain on his breast leading to the watch in his pocket. His blond hair was immaculately smoothed back and his gold rimmed spectacles were perched on his aquiline nose in the slightly arrogant way they always did. It allowed him to stare down his nose at her.

"Good morning, Mr. Aquila," she sighed, trying to keep the displeasure out of her voice.

"Yes, yes. Good morning. Now if you please…" He gestured at the music stand in the center of the room.

It was very difficult not to sigh with exasperation, but she held off until she was walking towards the wall of instruments – where the glass panels were already open over an impressive display of violins, clarinets, flutes, and harps. She snatched the one that she always practiced on and then pressed the button on the wall to make the glass slide back into place.

The music room was large and circular, with marble walls and a vaulted ceiling to give the best acoustics possible. The curved walls were broken up with decorative trim and three large glass panels that slid to the side at the push of a button. It wasn't necessary to have museum glass in a heavily guarded palace, but the smooth surface did improve the sound quality inside the room. A wall of shelves containing a curated collection of sheet music sat behind one, a grand piano was displayed behind another, and of course the wall of instruments that Lucy had just pulled her violin from sat behind the last.

The piece Mr. Aquila wanted her to learn today was already on the stand though, so she left the music shelves alone and carried her instrument to the center of the room.

"I'm ready."

"Very good. Please start at the beginning of stanza 12."

…

For the next two hours she played and replayed that piece of music until she was sick and tired of it. Then, after violin lessons, Lucy had to spend a few hours with her dance tutor before she finally had a break for lunch.

She always took her lunch in the arboretum, which was essentially a very tall greenhouse made entirely of glass. Luckily the flowering trees and potted plants inside weren't from particularly tropical areas, so it was never too hot or muggy. The paths were made of sparkling pink pea gravel, and they all converged in an open space at the center of the building where there were several sets of tables and chairs arranged tastefully around a small water fountain.

It was one of her favorite places in the castle, though technically it wasn't even part of the castle. It was connected to the castle by a covered walkway and sat in a garden very near the kitchens – which was another reason she enjoyed it. Because it was so close to the kitchens, the head chef sometimes visited her, and she had struck up a friendship with the kind older man.

As soon as she settled in her usual spot, she was visited by several servants who set the table and brought out her lunch, which was very light as usual. Yajima knew that she had a sensitive stomach, so he always made her private meals small and easy to digest.

Shortly into her pea soup, she was joined by none other than the cook.

"Yajima! Hello," she exclaimed happily, giving him a warm smile and putting her hand in his as he reached out for her.

As usual, he brushed an air-kiss over the top of her hand – just barely tickling her with his small mustache – and then he gently let her hand go with a happy smile. "Good afternoon, Princess. I hope your food is sitting well?"

"Of course! You always do a wonderful job," she replied easily, then quickly added, "Do you have time to chat?"

He nodded and sat. "But only for a little bit. I'll have to get back to the kitchens soon to make sure Baldroy and Mey-Rin aren't slacking off."

"You know as well as I do that that's exactly what they're doing."

"Probably…. and as soon as I walk into the kitchens, they'll scramble to look like they're busy. Sometimes I wonder why I keep them around…" he chuckled.

Lucy huffed a short laugh and offered, "Because they keep things interesting?"

"Well _that's_ certainly true. Did I tell you that Baldroy set the kitchen on fire again yesterday?"

"No! Again?! How many times does that make it now?!"

"I've lost count honestly. But, as usual, Mey-Rin was right there with a bucket of water to put it out. I swear… that woman only pretends to be blind as a bat to get out of doing work. Because whenever there's an emergency, she suddenly knows exactly where everything is and gets to it before we do."

Lucy snickered a little. "I wouldn't put it past her… with all the stories you've told me, it sounds like she's very clever."

"Yes she is... though she plays dumb very well. Sometimes I wonder what she was doing before she became my pantry chef… I wouldn't be surprised if she was a con artist."

"Probably. With the way things are right now, a lot of people have to do terrible things just to survive. I'm so glad that you found her and took her under your wing."

Yajima nodded solemnly, but then he brightened and changed the subject to keep their conversation more pleasant.

"And now she's grown a ridiculously bubbly personality and barely takes anything seriously unless my kitchen is about to burn down."

"Or someone is rude to her," Lucy pointed out jokingly, referencing a particular story Yajima had told her several weeks ago.

Apparently the previous vegetable chef had thought that he could get away with saying some very rude things to her. According to Yajima, Mey-Rin had scared the poor young man so badly that he quit his job that same day – though it sounded like he deserved it.

"Or that," the head chef agreed, shuddering as he obviously remembered the incident.

"Speaking of, how is Baldroy doing? Has he been able to keep up with being both a butcher chef and vegetable chef?"

"Once I got it through his thick skull that he had to thoroughly sanitize his knives or use a different set for the vegetables, he took to it beautifully," Yajima huffed exasperatedly, and then grumbled, "Honestly, I get frustrated mostly because those two have such potential. If they would just _apply_ themselves, they would become first-class chefs."

"As long as you keep Baldroy away from anything hot," Lucy added with a small smirk.

Yajima nodded with a grimace. "Right."

…

They chatted for several more minutes, and then Yajima excused himself and Lucy finished her lunch in silence. Once she was done, she had to suffer through etiquette lessons – which were her absolute least favorite of all the subjects she had to learn – but at least after that, she could go to the library.

Out of all her lessons, literature was the only one that she actually enjoyed. If there was one thing that Lucy loved to do, it was reading a good book. She loved it so much in fact, that she'd even considered writing her own books someday… though that was a dream she had only ever shared with her tutor, Professor Ribbon.

Much like the lesson itself, Prof. Ribbon was also her favorite teacher. He was the palace librarian and managed their huge collection of books – which was a perfect job for him because he absolutely _adored_ books. Even his weird flat hair style looked like an open book sitting on top of his head. And as for Lucy, she loved his quirky, fun personality and how easy-going he was with their lessons. Out of all her tutors, he was the only one that veered from things that would make her more ladylike or desirable as a wife. He didn't force her to memorize poetry or make her penmanship perfect. Instead, he picked out the best pieces from every imaginable genre and literature type for her to consume, and their lessons generally consisted of them pouring over it together.

Lately he had even suggested that she try writing her own short stories and essays for them to pick apart, but so far she hadn't had much luck. The few papers she'd managed to write had been poor at best, but each one grew significantly better with his guidance. Someday soon, she hoped that she would have enough skills to try seriously writing one of the stories that floated through her mind on a daily basis. Of course, she knew that writing an actual novel would probably take more time than she had to spare, since all of her free time was already used up.

As usual, she ended up getting a little too involved with her literature lesson, so she had to really hustle on her way back to her room when she was done.

"It's about time you got here! I can't wait around all day you know!" Aquarius snapped at her as soon as she walked through the door, just as Lucy had expected.

"I'm so sorry! I got wrapped up in talking to Prof. Ribbon about the plot development of the newest book he gave me!" she breathlessly apologized.

"Well if you want me to help you, you're going to have to stop losing track of the time! My time is valuable you know?!"

"Right! Of course. Sorry…"

Aquarius continued to grumble under her breath as she herded Lucy into the bedroom and helped her strip. Halfway through the buttons down her back, they both heard the sound of Lucy's outer door open and shut.

"Brandish! Is that you?!"

"Yes, Mistress!" came the slightly squeaky response from the other room.

"Get in here!"

"Yes, Mistress!"

The green-haired handmaid hurried into the bedroom where they were, looking a little flushed and carrying Lucy's diner.

"Oh for the love of… go put that down in the sitting room and then come back in here!"

"Oh right! Yes, of course!"

As soon as she'd done that and returned, Aquarius pointed at the remainder of Lucy's buttons. "Finish this! I have other things I need to deal with right now."

Of course Brandish's response was, "Yes, Mistress!"

Aquarius huffed and whirled around, stalking off with her head held high as usual. Honestly, the woman never stuck around for long, and Lucy had always wondered what kept her so busy… but she'd never gotten up the courage to ask. She also hadn't ever asked Aquarius what exactly her relationship was with Brandy, but she knew there had to be some kind of special situation between them, given Brandy's obvious adoration and fear of the older woman.

Once the bluenette was gone, Lucy turned to her friend and said, "Hi Brandy. How are you doing today? I was worried when I didn't see you earlier…"

The green-haired maid had already stopped quivering and her face had gone back to its normal bored mask. However, at Lucy's question, she winced a little and her eyes tightened with emotion that usually didn't show up on the other woman's face.

"Oh, right… yeah, Mom isn't doing too well so I had to spend time helping her out this morning and afternoon."

"I'm so sorry, Brandy," Lucy murmured, her heart squeezing in her chest.

She had given her friend permission to take as much paid leave as she needed to take care of her mom, so Lucy wasn't upset or surprised at all that Brandy had spent the first half of the day at home with Grammi. Not only did she sympathize with Brandy's situation – considering her own mom had been sick for a long time before passing – but Lucy was also sad and concerned for Grammi's sake since the older woman had been Lucy's nanny up until she fell ill all those years ago.

"Thanks…" Brandy replied, and then silently started helping Lucy with her buttons.

Thankfully, after a minute or two the solemn atmosphere lifted when Brandy started complaining about Lucy's buttons.

"This is such a pain," she grumbled, and Lucy immediately latched onto the lighter subject matter as well.

"I know. I hate these stupid dresses so much!"

"Right? What's the point of all these buttons?"

"Decoration I guess? Who knows."

"Well… they suck," Brandy summarized – somehow sounding both bored and irritated at the same time – and then she let out a long sigh as she finally finished.

Lucy chuckled and simply said, "Agreed," as she let the dress fall to her feet and stepped out of the pool of fabric. It could just stay on the floor and rot for all she cared…. though she generally liked to keep her room clean, so that wouldn't work out in the long run.

"Hey, could you help with this knot too? You know Aquarius ties it at least three times."

"Oh yeah… sure, turn around," Brandy sighed, already having flopped back on the bed lazily. She halfway sat up when Lucy turned and presented the back of her corset for the other woman to untie.

A few tugs later, Lucy felt her laces go lax and she quickly reached back to finish the job. The relief was instant, and she almost groaned with pleasure as her lungs finally filled up with air. It took some doing to get the thing over her head, but eventually she wormed out of it without Brandish's help and threw it on top of her discarded dress on the floor.

"So… where're you going today?"

"The eastside," Lucy responded as she bent to tug a large box out from under her bed.

The box contained a few disguises: several pairs of pants, overalls in a couple different colors, some fairly plain – but still pretty – long-sleeved shirts, stained work aprons, hats, gloves, glasses, scarves, and bandannas. All of the clothes, especially the pants and overalls, exhibited wear and tear that made them look like authentic work-clothes.

Today, she chose to wear a pair of sky-blue overalls and a long-sleeve white shirt with tiny blue flowers stitched all over it. She zipped the bottom of her overalls into her knee-high black boots and popped a pair of dark blue work gloves into her pocket – which would help keep her hands from getting callused and exposing her secret job.

When she was all dressed, she sat at the vanity next to her bed and used the mirror for reference as she smoothed her hair back into a tight work bun at the nape of her neck. Then she pinned it in place with the special lacrima bobby pins that would turn her hair dark brown and used a matching eyebrow pencil to color in her eyebrows so they wouldn't give her away as a blond. After that, she popped in a pair of green contacts that made her brown eyes hazel and finished off the mousy look with her heavy rimmed rectangular glasses.

Standing back up from her vanity chair, she glanced at Brandy – who was still lounging on her bed – and rolled her eyes at the other woman, finding her laziness fairly amusing.

"Taking a nap?" she asked as she reached back in her box and fished out a dark blue bandanna to tie around her neck.

"Hm… not really. Just bored."

"Being bored doesn't seem to bother you though," Lucy commented for what felt like the millionth time, and she shot the other woman a small grin as she tied the bandanna behind her neck, tugging it up to partially obscure her chin and jawline.

"… true," Brandy replied after a moment, sounding utterly unconcerned.

This was a conversation they'd had many times… how the maid was both perpetually bored and too lazy to do anything about it. Her favorite pastime seemed to be just laying around doing absolutely nothing.

In all honestly though, Lucy didn't mind Brandy's inactivity. She just enjoyed the greenette's company and only pestered her into helping when she absolutely needed it. So, their relationship worked out well.

It had been a longstanding friendship…. Not only had Brandy's mother been Lucy's nanny, but she'd also been the queen's handmaid. Layla Heartfilia had been completely fine with Grammi bringing her daughter along to work as well, so the two girls had practically grown up together. They'd been playmates first, and then when they were teenagers and Grammi grew ill, Brandy followed her mom's footsteps and became Lucy's handmaid.

And the entire time she'd known Brandy, the greenette had been lazy and lackadaisical.

It'd only been the past year that Lucy had seen any kind of change in Brandy's personality – specifically when Aquarius was hired as a second maid for Lucy a little over a year ago. Really, she wasn't sure exactly who had decided to hire the cranky woman. One day the bluenette had just shown up and taken control of both her and Brandy with an iron fist.

It hadn't taken long for Aquarius to whip them into shape – sometimes literally, with her water magic. And weirdly enough, Brandy seemed to actually _like_ being punished to a certain degree, though Lucy could never understand it. She definitely did not like the older woman's violent tendencies.

Punishments aside though, Lucy knew that Aquarius actually did care deeply for them – even if she'd never really said it or shown it in any kind of obvious way – and Lucy had grown to love the older woman as well. The bluenette had become almost like an aunt or older sister to Lucy… just a grumpy one that scolded her a lot.

With a sigh, Lucy shook her head and walked into her closet where there was a full-length mirror so she could carefully inspect her appearance for anything that might be out of place.

All her disguises were carefully constructed to make her look like just another average worker so nobody would guess that she was actually royalty. Plus, she'd also found that if her appearance edged more towards a gardener or groundskeeper, she was able to move around practically unnoticed on the castle grounds and the nobles' estates.

Honestly, pants and overalls weren't her favorite articles of clothing – she much preferred skirts – but unfortunately that didn't really scream 'gardener.' She also made sure to wear long sleeves, scarves, and a baggy fit in all of her clothes to hide as much of her body as possible. Even though she didn't particularly care for the look, she figured that she should do whatever she could to mask her true appearance.

After a long moment of hard looking, she couldn't see anything in today's outfit that would give her away as the princess, and she nodded with satisfaction. However, as she turned and headed towards the window, she was stopped by Brandy's voice.

"Don't forget to eat your dinner… Aquarius will kill me if she finds out, and I've already eaten."

"Oh… right."

With a sigh, Lucy spun back around and marched into the living room part of her suite, where Brandy had put the tray with her dinner on the coffee table. She quickly plopped down on the couch and started inhaling her food at top speed – ignoring the queasiness she got from eating so fast. Thanks to going overtime with Prof. Ribbon, she felt behind schedule and didn't want to waste much time on eating.

As soon as she'd cleared most of her small plate of chicken and dumplings, she headed back into her bedroom, declaring, "I'm done!"

"Oh good," Brandy replied dryly from the bed.

"Don't forget to pull the rope up after I'm down."

"I know, I know…"

Brandy sat up and watched as Lucy pulled a knotted rope out from under the bed and slid her disguise box back in its place. Then the greenette sighed and followed as Lucy snuck out onto her balcony.

Though she'd found that the guards patrolling outside generally never bothered to look up at the balconies, she liked to be extra cautious just in case. So, she crouched down a little to minimize her chances of being seen as she tied one end of the rope around her balcony's stone handrail where it attached to the wall. Then she peered out between the stone spiral balusters underneath and waited until the coast was clear before slinging the tail over and letting it drop to the ground.

She quickly hiked herself up over the railing as well and started climbing down, propping her feet on the wall and using the knots on the rope like a ladder. The whole maneuver was completed in less than a minute, and soon she was dropping to the ground beneath her bedroom balcony. Then she swiftly grabbed the rope, swung it in a circle to gain a little momentum, and sent the thick knot at the bottom sailing back over the balcony to signal to Brandy that she was down.

It left a loop of rope still draped over the railing, but Brandy pulled the rest back over and untied it from the balcony before heading inside – probably to take a nap on Lucy's bed while she was gone.

Meanwhile, Lucy quickly set off towards the gardens, where she would be the least conspicuous. When she first started doing this, she'd always been terrified that someone would see her walking away from her balcony and realize it was her… but that was years ago, and now she walked with confidence and very little concern.

For the first few weeks, she'd been stopped occasionally by guards who hadn't seen her before… but luckily she was friends with the head gardener, Tanaka. He was one of the few people that knew about her secret, and even though he was pretty old and had lost a lot of his strength, he still supervised all the other gardeners and held a lot of authority. So when he'd told the guards that Lucy really was a new gardener, they hadn't questioned it and never bothered her again.

Since then, Lucy hadn't had any problems walking around the castle grounds, and today was no exception. She easily made her way to the storage shed and collected her big wooden cart – which looked like a large squared wheelbarrow, with one wheel up front, two pegs in the back, and handles to pick it up and push it along. From there, she wheeled it around to the back of the castle, where the flower gardens turned into vegetable and fruit gardens behind the kitchens.

After parking the cart, she mounted the few steps up to the kitchen door and knocked. A crash and several other loud sounds resounded behind it, along with some cursing and yelling. Lucy winced a little and ducked her head into the bandanna around her neck to hide her grin. By now, she was used to the sounds of chaos behind this particular door, but it never stopped alarming and amusing her.

"Ah! That must be Miss Lucky!" said a perky voice that was totally at odds with the other destructive noises going on, and soon the door opened to reveal a red-headed chef with thick round glasses and a smile.

"OHW! Miss Lucky! It's good ta see ya as always…" Mey-Rin said in her thick accent that rounded out all her vowels.

"Hi, Mey-Rin, it's good to see you too. How is, uh, everything?" Lucy asked, peering past her into the ruckus behind. It looked like Yajima was currently scolding Baldroy, who stood over a pile of pots and pans that seemed a little mangled.

"Doing jus' fine. Ya know, it's jus' the usual round 'ere. Baldroy blew up some pans and Yajima's givin' 'im a talkin' to."

"Right… I hope this isn't a bad time."

"No, o'course not! Jus' wait 'ere, I'll be righ' back. Oi! I'ma get the stuff ready for Miss Lucky a'ight?!" she called back to the others, and there was a shuffling sound as they swapped places. Mey-Rin disappeared into the kitchen and Baldroy and Yajima came to the door.

"Lady Luck! Welcome!" Baldroy greeted cheerfully, but then cringed at the look Yajima sent him.

"Yes, yes, that's enough flirting. Go clean up your mess."

The tall blond flushed and shuffled his feet as he quickly nodded. "Yessir."

He shot one last look over his shoulder as he ducked back inside to fix whatever chaos he'd created this time. Lucy was pretty sure he had a little crush on her, so she was careful not to get too friendly with him, and she was also very grateful to Yajima for always cutting in and sending Baldroy off to do something else whenever he got too friendly with Lucy. The head chef was another of the few people who was in on her secret, and he knew there was no way she could get involved with one of the kitchen staff without risking exposure.

"Sorry about the ruckus, Lady Luck. You caught us in the middle of a little… incident."

Lucy cracked a smile at him. "Was there fire involved?"

"Not this time, thank god."

"Well, that's good at least."

"Indeed. Very good."

After a few more hellos and chitchat, Mey-Rin returned with several big sacks of food, and Yajima retreated back into the kitchen to supervise Baldroy.

"'Ere you are!" she declared, handing them off to Lucy.

"Thank you, Mey-Rin! It looks like a good haul today."

"Ohw yeah, we got lot's o' leftovers today. The food-bin was nearly full!"

"That's wonderful! Everyone will be very happy to get a little extra."

"Happy to help!"

And with that, Lucy waved goodbye and set off down the dirt path towards the servant road, which led to a small side gate in the castle wall. Once outside, she used back streets and alleyways to get through the noble district – which was how servants typically got around – and made her way to her next destination. It was a large manor with white walls, lots of windows, blue trim, and a huge garden.

She entered around the back, unlocking the gate with one of many keys she'd collected over her years doing this. Then, she put her large keyring to use again when she got to the backdoor and let herself in.

This was one of several estates that donated food to her cause. Some of the owners of said homes were philanthropic and had offered her their leftovers when she'd been asking around for patrons at the beginning of her career as 'Lady Luck,' but others didn't even know that she visited their homes every few days. The house she was currently visiting was one of those… it had been the cook who approached her after hearing about what she was doing through the grapevine.

Understandably, Lucy was extremely grateful to Chef Margarette, and they'd quickly struck up a friendship.

As soon as she reached the kitchen, she happily announced herself. "Hi Margarette!"

"Lady Luck! I'm so glad you came today… the leftover bin was almost too full."

"That's wonderful!" Lucy exclaimed as she stepped further into the kitchen and helped the cook load food into canvas bags.

There really was a lot… much more than usual, and Lucy was absolutely delighted.

"Wow, where did all of this come from?!"

"My lady threw an extra big party last night, and there were a lot of leftovers," Margarette replied with a roll of her eyes.

Lucy chuckled a little, knowing that this particular noble was a bit of a party girl.

"That's great… I got extra from the castle too, so I can give out really big portions today. Everyone's going to be so excited."

…

After chatting a little longer, Lucy headed out and finished her collection rounds in the noble district, and then she made a beeline for The Lion and Rose Pub. It was the place she always handed out food on the eastside of the commons.

To make things streamlined and ensure that she got food to everyone she could, she'd mentally cut up the common district into four quarters – the eastside, northside, southside, and westside. She visited one quarter every other day in a clockwork rotation and made a complete round in about a week. Plus, handing out food in the same places seemed to make it much easier for people to find her, and word about her arrival always traveled extremely quickly. Within thirty minutes of showing up, the entire quarter would know she was there and they would all show up in mass.

Today, as always, before she even reached her typical hand-out spot, people spotted her as she walked down the street and came over to greet her.

"Lady Luck! It's wonderful to see you today!" a small stout woman named Beth exclaimed as she hustled over to meet her.

"It's good to see you too, Beth. How are Billy and John? Have their fevers lifted?" Lucy was quick to respond with a smile.

Beth's face immediately dropped a little. "Well… Billy's doing much better, but John… he's still having a lot of trouble."

Lucy winced, really hating to hear the bad news. "I'm so sorry… here, maybe this will help."

She quickly reached into a small lockbox that was attached to the cart. It contained some basic medicine, bandages, and other necessities that she had purchased with her monthly allowance. The money was meant to be for her to buy jewelry, makeup, clothes, and whatever else a 'princess' was supposed to go shopping for, but she chose to use it for this instead. Though, every now and then she had to buy at least a little something for herself, otherwise her father might start wondering where all the money was going.

Right now, she pulled out some tubes and bottles and freely offered them to the single mother.

"Take these… I hope they help."

Beth gratefully accepted the bottle of fever reducing pain pills, itch cream, and antiviral medication that Lucy offered. She knew that John had a bad case of dragon pox, and these were the only things she could think of to ease his pain and help speed up the healing process. While she was at it, she also dug around in her bags of food to find a large bag of rice, some apples and oranges, a few potatoes and carrots, a large chunk of cheese, a loaf of bread, and a thick juicy bone for making a good soup. She wanted to give Beth more, but she had to ration out her food or risk running out before she'd given to everyone.

"There was a fairly good haul this week, so I can give you a little extra," she said as she dropped the items into Beth's apron, which the other women held out to make a pocket for her.

"Thank you so much, Lady Luck…" the older woman whispered tearfully, quickly tying her apron into a sack in the front to hold her new goods.

"Of course. I'm just happy I could help."

And so it continued. Person after person that Lucy had grown to know by name – or at least by face – came up to her asking for assistance which she readily gave. Some just needed food, while others also needed medicine, like Beth. There were even a few that had very special requests, such as tools or sewing supplies, which Lucy bought and stored in her cart for them. Technically she could just hand out coins, but she knew that some of her customers had problems with alcohol and other substances. It wasn't something she judged them for, but she also knew that if she handed out money to anyone who asked for it, people might start lying about their needs to get money for booze, and she would rather spend it on medicine or supplies.

After wading through the crowd that quickly built up, she eventually ended up at The Lion and Rose, where she handed out the last of her food and goods to everyone who came to get it. They generally brought their own bags to carry whatever she gave them, but a few had more unorthodox methods – like having extremely big pockets or carrying the food in their shirt. Some attempted to get second helpings, but she unfortunately had to turn them away, even though it always broke her heart a little.

Thankfully, the places she frequented didn't mind the crowds she brought with her…. if anything, they welcomed the extra people and hoped to get some business out of it. However, the establishments did typically insist that everyone stay fairly civil, and if anyone started to get rowdy they were instantly removed – often by the crowd themselves, since they knew that any major disturbances might prevent them from getting their share.

Occasionally she ran out of food before everyone had gotten a portion, but today she was able to give something to everyone, which always gave her a happy, '_job well done_,' sort of feeling.

Once her bags were empty, the crowds quickly cleared out and she settled down at the bar – not to drink, but for a little bit of company and to hear the latest rumors. Since she loved stories of all kinds, she'd quickly found out that rumors were just as fascinating to her.

"Well hello there, Lady Luck… finished already?" Erick, the bartender of The Lion and Rose, asked cheerfully.

"Yep, and today I was definitely 'lucky.' There was extra food, and everyone got a good share."

"That's great! But you know that even when you run out early, everyone's still grateful."

Lucy just sighed, knowing it was probably true, but still feeling a little guilty. To distract herself, she perked up and asked, "So has there been any news?"

Erick laughed. "Eager as always! But you came at the right time… the Dragon struck again. This time it was Pyracantha."

"Pyracantha? That's just a week away from here by train!"

"Yeah, he does seem to be getting closer and closer doesn't he?"

"He sure does …" Lucy muttered absentmindedly.

Over the past few months, she'd been very interested to hear rumors of the Dragon hitting country after country… slowly getting closer to her own with each attack.

"What did he do? Do we know yet?"

"Oh, the usual. He knocked out all the guards and soldiers, tore the palace apart practically, beat the warrior queen in a duel, and burned all of her possessions while threatening worse if she didn't change her ways. They say that she's been holed up in her bedchamber ever since, but I doubt that'll last. We all know how hot a temper Queen Azula has…. It won't be long before she's up in arms over it. Things will probably just get worse over there until she's been dethroned."

"That's the truth…" Lucy agreed, wincing in sympathy for the people of Pyracantha. Their queen was a committable lunatic.

"Fairy Tail will probably have to do a follow up visit to our dear neighboring queen," Erick said mildly with dark mirth threading his voice.

A shiver worked down her spine. Nobody ever wanted a second visit from Fairy Tail – the criminal guild of peace makers and king killers. A single visit from one of their mages was bad enough, usually involving a lot of property damage and some kind of injury if they fought back, though it was never too serious. That was usually enough to change a kingdom's ruler for the better, but often enough there were those who thought they could challenge the guild. A second visit from Fairy Tail often meant much more severe injuries – usually the permanent kind – and a third visit always meant death, dethronement, and a new ruler.

They were ruthless, but in Lucy's eyes they were heroes. Over the years, they had waged war against any kingdom with an ignorant or cruel ruler. They were just like Robin Hood's band of Merry Men… if the Merry Men happened to be a mafia. For a long time now, she'd wished they would come and frighten her father into being a better king.

The Dragon was one of the most active and well-known members of Fairy Tail, and she'd been following his movements closely through rumors. She knew through the grapevine that he wielded the fire of a dragon – thus his nickname – and favored violence over pure threats. If anyone was unlucky enough to get him for a second visit, he usually left the royalty with some serious burn scars to remind them of their duty. And that wasn't even considering the property damage he was accountable for…. he was well known as the arsonist of the Fairy Tail guild. He seemed inordinately fond of burning down buildings or just blowing them up, which Lucy personally thought was a little irresponsible. That much destruction could only make things harder on the people who would have to pay for the repairs out of their taxes and rebuild whatever it was with hard labor.

Still, she would have no qualms welcoming him if he happened to be the one to put her father straight. A little fire and destruction was a small price to pay for their people's happiness.

* * *

Just for today, I'll give you all a freebie since it's the first chapter. ;P

**Sneak Peek**

_Gritting her teeth, she turned back around to face him while simultaneously leaning as far back as possible. She barely managed to keep her face pleasant as she responded with, "I'm… not sure that's an appropriate proposition." _

_He chuckled. "My, my…. Your modesty and shyness quite become you, Princess, but I assure you there's nothing to fear. I'm quite gentle." _

_At that, his other hand came up and he trailed his fingers along her jawline. Her hackles rose and she could feel a frown slipping firmly into place on her forehead. She immediately reached up and knocked his hand off her jaw. _

"_Don't touch me like that." _


	2. Ch 2: The Bad, the Ugly, and the Good

**Author's Note:**

Well, we're off to a fantastic start aren't we? Late on the second upload... but at least it was only a day. . Sorry guys!

Anywho! I hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! This next one has a **SLIGHT TRIGGER WARNING** to it, so it's got a couple rough spots. But don't worry, the end should make up for it. ;D I can't wait to hear what you think about a certain individual's introduction.

Also, HUGE thanks to all my wonderful reviewers for last chapter! Big hugs and kisses to: DevilHippy, sakshishetty3003, valerioux, Tabasco-Devil, HotvampGurl23, Starstruck-MJ, GothBanshee, Trollka21, stranger1999, and Roxie14!

Now, without further ado, on with the chapter! And be sure to stay till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter. ;D

* * *

Later that week, Lucy found herself barely able to breathe, strapped into an extra tight corset, and wearing a ridiculously uncomfortable dress as she fended off idiots at the ball her father had warned her about on Tuesday.

She'd been primped and polished until she resembled a shiny decoration. The key word there was, 'decoration,' since she really didn't feel useful for anything other than being looked at. She could barely move in the dress and corset combination… and yet for some stupid reason, she was still expected to dance without dying. It had taken a lot of willpower to keep herself from telling her suitors, 'I'd like to see _you_ try to dance in a corset.'

So far, she'd managed to suffer through a couple of slow waltzes without keeling over, but she had to take a long break after each to catch her breath. At least all the wheezing gave her a perfect excuse to extract herself from anyone who tried to talk to her during those times.

She honestly couldn't stand these functions… it was downright invasive to have a bunch of people come into her own home just to size her up as a potential wife. Not to mention, a lot of the men doing the sizing were fairly unpleasant as well. Though there were a few nicer options, most of the royalty that had been invited to these things were people that her father associated with… which meant that a lot of them were businessmen only interested in lining their pockets with money. Even the nicer ones were still usually too arrogant and full of themselves for her tastes.

She hated having to talk to them and make nice when all she wanted to do was leave. It all just felt incredibly fake and unpleasant. But even worse, was the way they eyed her as they talked… it was always the _looking _that made her feel the most like an object. As they chatted about meaningless things, she could see them calculating her worth, their eyes edging either towards impassive or possessive as they decided if they wanted her or not.

She lived in constant terror that she might eventually be forced to marry one of these men.

The only upside to having these stupid balls was how much food got discarded afterwards, which gave her something happy to focus on. Distracting herself with those kinds of thoughts helped a lot… though it was a little hard to do when people kept interrupting her.

People like Prince Thornton, who swaggered over to pester her for the fifth time tonight. "Princess Heartfilia, might I have another dance?"

Thornton was the second prince of the Aconite Kingdom, which was about three days away by train. That was pretty unlucky for Lucy, because it meant that he showed up at a lot of the balls her father threw… and he'd proved to be annoyingly persistent. He was a well-known womanizer, and it seemed like he had decided that she was his next big challenge.

"Unfortunately, I must decline, Prince Thornton. I find that I am still quite fatigued after the last dance," she politely refused, making sure her court speech was impeccable. The last thing she needed was to slip up and expose her less-than-ladylike side to this idiot.

"But I insist! To have such a lovely creature as you hidden by the windows would be a shame. You should be displayed in all your glory on the dancefloor."

She couldn't deny that he was sort of handsome as he flashed her a devilish smile, but his attitude and methods were definitely not as he took another step towards her and lightly placed his palm on her arm. He was too close for comfort and she carefully took a step backwards to compensate.

"I do apologize, but it would be highly unbecoming for me to faint on said dancefloor."

His eyes widened in concern, but she could see right through him and knew he was really just pretending to be worried to manipulate her.

"Dear me, that sounds quite troublesome. Perhaps you would prefer some fresh air on the balcony? I have noticed you seem most fond of it."

At that, she narrowed her eyes, getting a little annoyed at his pushiness. "No, thank you. I'm rather hungry in fact."

Her court speech was slipping, but she was irritated enough that she didn't really care. Prince Thornton didn't seem to notice anyways, so she wasn't too worried about insulting him.

To back up her statement, she turned towards the long table of food across the room and started walking in that direction. With any luck, she could lose him in the crowd.

Unfortunately, that didn't quite work out as planned, because he still had ahold of her arm and wouldn't let go.

"Why don't we take a plate outside together? I could even feed you, if you like."

The second part of his suggestion was almost a whisper and he leaned in close to say it – which meant that he was inside her personal bubble again.

Gritting her teeth, she turned back around to face him while simultaneously leaning as far back as possible. She barely managed to keep her face pleasant as she responded with, "I'm… not sure that's an appropriate proposition."

He chuckled. "My, my…. Your modesty and shyness quite become you, Princess, but I assure you there's nothing to fear. I'm quite gentle."

At that, his other hand came up and he trailed his fingers along her jawline. Her hackles rose and she could feel a frown slipping firmly into place on her forehead. She immediately reached up and knocked his hand off her jaw.

"Don't touch me like that."

His eyebrows rose at her command. She'd somehow managed to keep her tone semi-polite, but it was still sharper than it should have been.

"Goodness, perhaps you're right and I did underestimate you. The fire in your eyes suggests a passion I had previously thought unkindled."

"I'm glad we understand each other."

"Indeed, I'm quite pleased as well." Much to her shock, he crowded close to her again, but this time he grabbed onto her waist and kept her from stepping back. "That fire means I don't have to treat you quite so delicately… am I right?"

"What are you…?! Let me go!"

"Calm down, you wouldn't want to create a scene… now would you, Princess?"

Honestly, she didn't know what he could possibly be thinking. The only experience she had with men was during these formal events and as 'Lady Luck,' so it was an understatement to say that she didn't know much about love and romance. All her information came from the love stories that Prof. Ribbon brought for her to read, and they were all pretty vague about what lovers did to physically express their affection towards each other. She knew they embraced, and kissed, and touched each other in pleasant ways – like holding hands and stroking each other's faces – but she couldn't imagine wanting to do that with someone that you had no feelings for. So, having Prince Thornton touch her like this was actually really revolting, and she had no idea why he would even want to do it…. unless he was trying to trick her into thinking that he had feelings for her.

The physical intimidation of having him looming over her was also pretty disturbing, but Lucy was made of stronger stuff than that. More than one drunkard had accidentally mistaken her for their lover, and she'd learned a few basic maneuvers to defend herself if they didn't listen to her complaints.

"Yeah right. You're the one making a scene! What part of 'no' don't you understand?" she growled as she shoved him back with all the force she could muster in such a constricting dress.

It was at least enough to push him back several staggering steps, and before she'd made the conscious decision to slap him, her hand was in the air whistling towards his face. Inches from making contact though, her smack was stopped by someone grabbing her wrist in mid-swing.

"That's quite enough I think, Princess," a deep voice intoned.

She was spun by the grip on her wrist to face the newcomer, who then shifted his hold and pulled her hand up for a kiss. Her eyes darted over his features, noting his prominent jaw, hawk-like nose, and that he had no eyebrows. His white hair all swept to the left, like it all was pointing to one very long chunk that hung down the left side of his face. He was also quite tall and had a lean build, which was emphasized by his well-tailored suit.

All in all, he would have been fairly attractive, if it hadn't been for his cold eyes. Those eyes speared her in place and sent a shiver from her toes to the top of her head. There was something about him that reminded her of Prince Thornton… but somehow she could tell that he would be much harder to deal with.

"It's lovely to make your acquaintance," he said smoothly as he released her hand.

"Um… yes, quite… sir…?"

The whole incident had thrown her off and now she was left scrambling for composure. He just smiled, as if her confusion was amusing to him.

"King Erigor Eisenwald. I rule the oceanic kingdom of Balsam. Perhaps you've heard of it? We trade excellent pearls and coral."

"Ah, yes, I have heard of your kingdom. Though I wouldn't have expected you to come so far inland for a simple ball."

Finally, her nerves were starting to settle back into place and she regrasped the situation. Though her court-speech wasn't exactly up to par, it was definitely better than stammering.

"Yes, well, I had some business to attend to in a nearby kingdom and King Heartfilia was kind enough to invite me. I'm _very_ glad he did."

The smile that crossed his face left her feeling cold and she fought back another shiver.

"Oh, I see."

Meanwhile, Prince Thornton had been huffing and puffing in the background, and he eventually reached his limit for being ignored.

"Excuse me! But just what in the bloody blazes is going on?! I demand an apology for such atrocious behavior! How dare you attack me in such a manner?!"

His complaint was obviously directed at Lucy, though he kept darting glances at King Eisenwald as if he didn't quite know what to do about the newcomer. As for Lucy though, she'd reached her breaking point and was done dealing with such a rude, irritating jerk.

"And I demand an apology for your crude behavior!" Lucy shot right back at him, which seemed to take him by surprise.

He recoiled and seemed to puff up to twice his normal size. "How dare you talk to me in such a disrespectful manner?"

"I thought you approved of my fire, Prince Thornton?" she asked sweetly, and then hardened her tone again. "Perhaps you would receive more respect if you exhibited that quality yourself."

By now, his skin was turning blotchy and red with anger and – hopefully – some embarrassment. "You… you… you _hussy_!"

For the first time at one of these matchmaking venues, she felt like she was getting to see someone's true colors, and it was a refreshing change of pace. Also, she couldn't believe that he had actually used the word, 'hussy,' instead of, 'bitch,' and it took a lot of willpower to keep from laughing at him.

It also looked like she wasn't the only one who found the prince's temper tantrum amusing. A deep resonant laugh broke the conversation and both their attentions shifted to the temporarily forgotten king standing beside them.

"Oh dear, this has turned into quite the fiasco. Prince Thornton, perhaps you should leave this one to me…. playing with fire could get you hurt, unless you know how to handle it properly."

The dark amusement in his voice and his word choice sent yet another shiver down Lucy's spine and she became even more convinced that King Eisenwald was a man she did not want to associate with. Prince Thornton had been annoying and pushy, but she'd never been afraid of him – even when he got into her personal space. There had never been a doubt in her mind that she could repel him if things got out of hand. However, comparing him to this new threat was like comparing a fussy puppy to a venomous snake… one was irritating, but the other was deadly.

As Prince Thornton eventually spun on his heel and retreated in an indignant huff, King Eisenwald turned his attention back on her, and she attempted to plaster a fake smile on her face.

"I must thank you, King Eisenwald, as well as apologize for dragging you into such a distasteful situation."

"No apology needed, my dear. I must confess that I found the entire spectacle quite amusing."

"I see. That's a relief to hear."

"Yes. However it does seem to have caused quite a stir doesn't it?"

Lucy glanced around and immediately noticed how many of the guests were eyeing her with shock and distain. Undoubtedly, they hadn't noticed how rude Prince Thornton was being, so all they'd seen was her shoving and nearly slapping him… not to mention all the yelling.

"Ah, I see your point. I do seem to have disturbed the pleasant atmosphere…. what a shame."

The sarcasm in her tone was laced so lightly that nobody should have picked it up, but a dark twinkle in the king's eye suggested that he had noticed.

"Indeed. Perhaps we should lighten the mood with a dance? Oh… pardon me, I forgot that you told Prince Thornton that you were tired."

She could also detect a hint of a bite in his tone but couldn't tell what its aim was.

It threw her off, and her response was slightly stuttered. "O-oh, yes, that's right."

"How unfortunate. Ah well, perhaps next time then. I anticipate seeing more of you in the future."

And with that, he once again lightly grasped her hand, laid a kiss on the back, and then disappeared into the crowd, leaving her with a slightly metallic taste in her mouth.

"What in the world was with that man?" she whispered to herself quietly, wondering just who he was and why he set her nerves on edge.

After that encounter, the rest of the ball went as smoothly as could be expected. With all the rumors circulating, not as many suitors approached to ask for a dance, and she was given more time and space to herself. That was both good and bad. On the upside, she was happy to not have to socialize so much… but there was also no way her father wouldn't hear about it. No doubt, she would have to endure an unpleasant conversation tomorrow, which she began to dread for the rest of the night.

…

It was no wonder she didn't sleep well, and she was already awake and waiting when Aquarius barreled into her room first thing in the morning.

"Get up, Princess. The king wants to see you in his study before breakfast, so we need to hurry," she barked without preamble.

"I figured as much…" Lucy sighed, the bundle of fear in her stomach winding several times tighter.

"What did you expect after the stunt you pulled last night?"

"Yes, well, I didn't have much of a choice. That dumb prince was being rude and handsy… like he wanted to make me his lover or something! Which is ridiculous. I _know_ he doesn't love me, so what did he think he was going to accomplish by grabbing me like that?!"

Aquarius pursed her lips and only said, "Don't whine, it's not attractive. You'll never get a boyfriend like that."

"Funny coming from you," Lucy muttered quietly to herself, but flinched back when Aquarius shot her a glare.

"Don't you dare give me lip."

"Yes ma'am…"

"That's better."

Within a few short minutes, Aquarius had whipped her into a corset and a dress, yanked her hair into a quick updo, slapped on her makeup, and pushed her out the door. She accompanied Lucy down the many halls all the way to her father's study – though Lucy wasn't sure if her maid was doing it to make sure she didn't run away or if it was for some sort of emotional support.

Once outside the huge double doors, the guards stationed there announced her presence, "Princess Heartfilia to see you, Sire."

"Send her in!" he bellowed, and his tone said, '_It's about time. How dare you make me wait?'_

She took a few deep breaths and then entered the door that one of the guards opened for her. It shut with a bang behind her and she forced herself not to flinch at the sound, feeling like she'd just been locked into a room with a bomb.

"You wanted to see me, Father?"

The king's study was large, round, and possessed a high arched stone ceiling, so her voice echoed a little as she spoke. It would have echoed more if the walls weren't lined with bookshelves.

"Yes, I did." He looked up from the paperwork on his desk, put down his pen, and sat up straight in his chair so he could fix her with a steely glare.

"I heard from several of our guests last night that you physically assaulted Prince Thornton…. Is this information true?"

She gulped. "He… was making inappropriate advances."

"I don't believe I asked what _he_ did. What I want to know is whether you physically assaulted someone at the ball last night."

"I pushed him away from me because he was too close."

She decided to leave out the part where she nearly slapped him, since the blow hadn't actually landed.

"I see. So you pushed him… and is that all?" His sharp eyes plainly told her that he'd heard about the slap, so she figured it was best to fess up.

"I almost slapped him, but my hand never touched his face."

"Because King Eisenwald stopped you. Isn't that right?"

"Yes."

"But if he hadn't stopped you, would you have landed that hit?"

"I…" she trailed off, knowing that whichever way she answered was bad. The only response that had a chance of being better than the others was, "There's no way of knowing for sure, since it did not come to pass."

His lips tightened, "I see that your conversational studies have paid off at least. Though they certainly failed you last night."

So apparently, he'd also heard about her yelling… lovely.

"I apologize for causing such a disturbance."

The best thing to do now was to just say she was sorry and hope for the best.

"Do you truly think that an inane apology is enough to undo the damage you have done? Prince Thornton has rescinded his interest in marrying you, as have several others who heard of the event. You have disgraced yourself and this country with your impolite and violent behavior. I cannot even begin to imagine what you were thinking to commit such an act. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry… I was merely offended by his forwardness."

That was obviously the wrong thing to say.

He stood and planted his hands on the large wooden desk in the middle of his study so he could lean towards her. "However a suitor chooses to court you is up to them, _you have no say in the matter_. You will flirt, smile, laugh, and accept whatever attentions they might give you. I don't care what they say to you, or how they touch you as long as they do not threaten your chastity. You will do whatever you have to in order to secure a political marriage that will benefit this kingdom."

While she didn't fully understand what he meant by 'threatening her chastity,' she generally understood that there were some things that would make a woman harder to marry off – like going around kissing a bunch of guys for instance. But whatever the case, his overall meaning was crystal clear, and it made her insides twist with hurt and anger at the injustice of it all.

"I understand…. all I am to you is just another asset to sell or trade," she unconsciously spat back, her resentment and pain finally boiling over in the face of his blatant disregard for her feelings and wellbeing. A shot of fear went down her spine though when she realized what she'd said, and she kicked herself for provoking him further.

"You obviously do NOT understand, or you would never have acted so crudely last night."

It stung that he didn't even attempt to deny her statement, and her temper flared again, making her mumble another stupid thing without thinking it through first. "Even a horse will kick its master if it's been whipped enough."

Once again, she cringed, realizing her mistake too late and unable to take it back.

This time, her accidental backtalk caused a much worse reaction, and his face turned beet red with rage. "If you think I've treated you like a horse, then you are sorely mistaken. I would have had a horse _put down_ for such bad behavior."

He strode around his desk and advanced on her. She unconsciously backed away from him, terrified of what he might do to her, but her escape was abruptly halted when he snatched her wrist in a grip so tight she thought he would crush her arm.

"Ah! F-Father… that hurts!" she gasped, cringing under the cruel grip.

He completely ignored her cry of pain and turned his head towards the door instead. "Guards! Bring an instrument!"

"Right away, Sire!" they barked and their scurrying footsteps could be heard beyond the door.

Only then did he turn his blazing eyes back to her and his fist clenched even tighter. He twisted, which sent her to her knees with another shout.

"You will play whatever they bring until I'm satisfied that you have learned your lesson. Ladies play music, engage in pleasant conversation, and recite poetry. They do _**NOT**_ complain, whine, or talk back in any way. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir…" she whispered, trying to keep her tears in check.

"Good," he spat, and dropped her wrist with a motion that threw it at her, nearly making her hit herself in the face.

She immediately cradled it to her chest, feeling it throb with deep pain that suggested a sprain at the very least.

"And stand up! A lady should never sit on the floor."

She quickly obeyed, and just a few moments later one of the guards hurried in with a violin. He handed it to Lucy when her father gestured at her, and then he left, keeping his eyes turned towards the ground.

"Now play. Show me that you can do something right."

She cringed and dutifully tucked the instrument under her chin. A shot of pain seared her nerves as she bent her wrist to touch the strings, but she gritted her teeth against the sensation and forced her fingers to press down.

As she played, her father went back around his desk and sat, watching her for a long time. Eventually he picked up his pen and turned back to the papers on his desk, restarting whatever he had been working on prior to her arrival.

At first, she thought that was a silent dismissal and started to put the violin down, but as soon as the music stopped, he said, "Did I ask you to quit?"

"No sir…"

"Then why are you stopping?"

She grimaced and went back to playing without saying a thing in response, feeling scared and sick with frustration.

For the next hour, she stood and played all the pieces she had learned so far from Mr. Aquila… and with each passing minute her wrist throbbed with more and more pain. Soon, she could barely move her fingers, but kept forcing them to respond despite every twitch sending very unladylike curses screaming through her mind. Sweat coated her skin and dripped into watery eyes, and her stomach twisted in on itself, curling up with nausea from pain and hunger. She still hadn't eaten breakfast… not that she thought she could after this.

Once she had run through all her pieces twice, he finally dismissed her. "That's enough. I have more work to do, and you're distracting me."

Cold rage stabbed at her, but she swallowed it down quickly, making her insides curdle.

"Yes sir."

She turned to leave, but stopped when he said, "I will take my morning meal alone today, so do not expect me at the table."

"Yes sir," she muttered again, and forced herself to keep walking towards the door, instead of running like she really wanted to.

Right as her good hand touched the thick golden handle, her father said one more thing.

"Oh, and Lucy? You were wrong before. A horse that kicks its master has _**not**_ been whipped enough."

She gritted her teeth and bit back the nasty words that she was dying to shout at him. In the end, she just whispered, "Yes sir," again and was zapped with a surge of self-loathing for being unable to stand up for herself.

…

After Lucy exited her father's study, Aquarius immediately ordered Brandish to take her into town to see Dr. Capri and get her wrist checked out. He didn't ask any questions of course – today wasn't the first time she'd made a surprise visit after her father got a little rough. Instead, he just talked about the weather, and how pretty she looked today, and other random chit-chat while he scanned her wrist with a magic spell to check if it was broken or not.

Thankfully it was just sprained, so he slathered it with a quick-healing potion, put it in a brace that she could take off if she needed to, and sent her off with a smile. It was all fairly painless and quick, but Lucy couldn't help feeling angry and humiliated the entire time.

She spent the rest of the day trying to ignore her hurt wrist to the best of her ability, since it just reminded her of what happened that morning. Whenever she thought about it, a fresh wave of frustration, fear, helplessness, and self-loathing washed over her.

By the time evening fell and it was time to be Lady Luck, her negative feelings had all simmered down to a dull throb at the back of her skull…. at least until she had to push her cart. Unfortunately, that hurt her wrist – which wasn't exactly a surprise, but it wasn't a pleasant discovery either. So she struggled to get her cart through the noble district, especially since it was extra loaded with all the leftover food from last night's ball. Unsurprisingly, her mood took another nosedive.

It must have been obvious that she was hurt, because as soon as she entered the common district people started offering to push her cart for her. At first she turned them down, feeling a little embarrassed about the whole thing, but it didn't take her long to give in and let them roll her cart to the inn where she would be handing out food today. Honestly, despite feeling like she was shirking her duties a little, it was a huge relief, and she thanked them all repeatedly.

That helped her reorganize her thoughts into a more positive mindset, and she tried to cheer up a little for everyone as she handed out food. She mostly succeeded… but whenever she slipped up and tried to grab something with her left hand, the shot of pain would remind her that she was pissed and she would space out for a minute.

Like right now for example.

"Lady Luck? My lady? Are you feeling okay?"

She immediately snapped back to attention. "Oh! Yes, I'm fine."

"You just seem a little absentminded is all, like something was bothering you," said Cynthia, a kind younger woman with two small daughters.

"I'm sorry. You're right, I am a little off today," Lucy admitted with an embarrassed laugh, feeling stupid for letting herself get moody again.

"I hope those fairy friends of yours haven't been bullying you, my lady!" a big, brawny worker whose name was Todd bellowed from a few feet away.

Lucy smiled as everyone laughed, her spirits lifting again at the long-standing joke.

Shortly after she first started handing out food, a small child had asked her if she was a good fairy princess come to save them, and she'd laughingly gone along with it – finding the idea extra amusing since she respected Fairy Tail so much. The idea had quickly spread and evolved into her being a fairy of luck and fortune… and soon after that people had started calling her 'Lady Luck.'

Of course nobody actually believed that she was a fairy – aside from the children and a few adults who either drank too much or believed in the old legends. But mostly, it was brought up as a fond joke, and it never failed to cheer her up.

She laughed along with everyone, and – as Cynthia moved on – she continued handing out food with a smile on her face.

Shortly after that, a serious older man with a scar down his right cheek came up for his portion, and as she loaded a few pears, several small pies, a loaf of bread, a hunk of butter, and some potatoes into his small sack, he quietly said, "Seriously though, my lady… if your 'Mister' is causing you grief, just let us know. He'll disappear before the next sun rises."

She blinked in surprise at him for making such a weirdly heartwarming and terrifying offer. Several other men and women behind him nodded seriously, and a wiry middle-aged woman agreed loudly.

"Mm-hm… you just let us know, Honey. All ya gotta do is point at him and he'll never mess with ya again."

It seemed that everyone assumed her periodic bad moods were caused by either an abusive husband or lover, and she hadn't ever disputed the rumor – even though it was her father and not a romantic partner that caused her problems.

Lucy could feel her eyes getting all watery and blinked back the happy tears with a vengeance, just sniffling a little and saying, "Thanks you guys…"

There was a smattering of affirmatives, and thankfully nobody commented on her extra wateriness today.

…

The rest of the evening passed by normally, and within a few hours she had emptied her cart and everyone was leaving Crazy Eights – the bar and poolhall that took up the first floor of this particular inn. With a sigh, Lucy lightly dropped the empty canvas bags into her cart and wheeled the whole thing outside, parking it in an alley next to the inn. Then, she came back inside and flopped onto one of the tall stools lined up at the bar.

The owner – who also acted as barkeep – nodded at Lucy as she rested her elbows on the scarred wood. "How are ya today, Lady Luck?"

"A little tired I guess," Lucy admitted with another sigh.

"Looks like it. And how'd ya get that?" June asked, eyeing the brace on Lucy's hand.

"Oh, um… it's a long story, but thankfully it isn't as bad as it looks. Oh! Which reminds me, how's Robert doing? Is he back on his feet yet?"

"Almost. He walked around for a couple of hours today."

"That's wonderful! So his ankle was just sprained then?"

"Seems that way."

"I'm so glad," Lucy replied with a broad grin, happy to hear that the bartender's husband wasn't as hurt as they'd thought.

At that moment, another patron gestured for June's attention, and she hurried off to tend to them.

While Lucy waited for June to come back and chat with her a little more, she let her eyes wander around, noting all the familiar faces. Her kingdom was fairly small, and she had gotten to know a lot of the people in it by doing what she did, so it was pretty easy for her to spot anyone she'd never seen before. Which was why it didn't take her long at all to notice the new guy sitting in a corner of the tavern stuffing his face full of food. Although… she probably would have stopped and stared anyways, with the way he ate like a starving animal.

With nothing else to do, she watched as he continued to shovel food into his mouth and stared in shock at the mountain of dishes next to him… wondering where he put it all. The man must have an empty leg or something to store all of it.

It made her so curious that she looked for other clues about him and noticed the large backpack sitting on the floor next to his chair. On top it looked like at least one blanket and possibly a bedroll were strapped on, and from that Lucy concluded that he must be some kind of traveler… or maybe even a drifter.

She really doubted he was a trader of any kind. From what she could tell about his eating habits, it didn't look like he had enough manners to sell anything to anyone, and she was pretty sure he was talking with his mouth full to the person who had joined him at his table. It was Michael, one of the regulars here who liked to socialize. He had chatted with Lucy on multiple occasions as well.

The two of them seemed to get along really well, based off the laughter coming from that table, and Lucy figured that the traveler must be very friendly. He was definitely interesting, and she just got more intrigued the longer she watched – which caused her to scan him even closer for hints about who he was and what he was doing here.

He wore baggy white pants tucked into tall black boots that looked fairly scuffed up. The dark red jacket he had on was a little more interesting, since it had strange zippers on the shoulders and a big buckle and strap dangling from collar – or she assumed it was from the collar. It peeked out from under the thick white scarf that was wrapped around his neck.

Probably out of the whole ensemble, it was that scarf that stood out as odd. The weather wasn't particularly cold, and his jacket seemed fairly lightweight – though he'd zipped it all the way up – so wearing such a thick scarf was somewhat inappropriate for the temperature. It also reflected the light strangely, as if it was some sort of leather, and even from the distance across the pub, Lucy could tell it had an odd texture.

As for the rest of his appearance… he didn't look particularly big or tall or fat or skinny. His hair was a little odd though, being sort of a reddish-muddy-chestnut-brown that she hadn't ever really seen before. It also looked a little long and flopped down over his eyes and neck in a way that obviously bugged him, since he kept shoving it out of his face. That further confirmed her suspicion that he was a traveler, since getting a haircut wasn't always possible on the road.

Her inspection drew to a halt when June returned to continue their conversation.

"Looks like you've set your eyes on someone…" the bartender teased as she leaned against the inside of the bar.

Lucy rolled her eyes and turned back to face the other woman. "I was bored, and he's obviously not from around here so I got curious. Do you know who he is?"

"Just someone passing through. Said he might be here a while though."

"Oh, I see," she hummed, ready to let the whole thing drop. They got plenty of visitors coming and going, so she thought nothing more of it.

… Until June decided to make a big deal out of it.

"He's pretty hot you know… want me to set you up? He's gonna be stayin' here at the inn," the brunette said with a suggestive eyebrow waggle.

Lucy pursed her lips and assumed her best, '_really?_' look to shoot at June. "No thanks. I'm not in the market for a guy."

Which was absolutely true. After all the marriage nonsense her father had forced on her, the last thing she wanted was to get involved with a man.

"Whoa, whoa… Okay then. Just thought I'd offer…" June sputtered with laughter as she raised her hands in surrender.

Lucy huffed an affirmative and looked away, wanting to close that particular discussion as fast as possible.

Her sulking was almost instantly interrupted by June's casual mention of, "So, anyway… I'm guessing you'd like to hear the new rumors?"

"Of course! You know me well," Lucy exclaimed as her head whipped back around to face June.

The other woman laughed. "Well enough, aside from not knowing who you are."

Lucy joined in on the laughter, and then waited eagerly to hear the news.

…

.

…

Meanwhile, the guy they'd just been talking about had also noticed her.

Earlier, he'd been totally sidetracked from whatever he had been doing when that massive crowd of people piled into the bar and nearly crushed him flat.

He'd said something along the lines of, "What the heck's goin' on?!" to the guy he had been talking to before the sudden traffic jam, but all he got in response was, "It's Lady Luck!"

After that, the guy had run off to join the crowd, leaving Natsu alone and pissed off. He'd stood up – mainly because he hadn't had much of a choice as he got flattened against the wall – but from the slightly higher vantage point he'd been able to see a figure in the middle of the swarm. Everyone seemed to be gathering around her… and after a moment he figured out why.

People started leaving with bags and stuff, and when he got a little closer, he could see a girl handing out food from a cart she'd wheeled in with her.

That had gotten his attention real fast, and soon he started inching closer to try and hear what was going on over the roar of voices. Natsu had super sharp hearing, it was one of the things he'd trained really hard for, but even he couldn't hear a thing in all this crap.

Eventually though, he'd finally gotten close enough to pick up on this Lacy Duck – or whatever – person's voice, and he tried to stick to that spot long enough to eavesdrop on some of her conversations.

By listening in on all the chit-chat going on, he quickly figured out a few important pieces of information. First of all, she pretty much knew them all by name, and that told him she'd been doing this a looooong time – unless she was just really, _really_ good with names. She also talked about specific things with each person, like if someone in their family had gotten better or if they had finished patching up their roof…. and she even handed out medicine and other kinds of stuff to a few people along with their food.

Above all, it was really obvious that everyone here loved her… and it was just as obvious why.

After eavesdropping for a while, he eventually edged back to his starting place and sat back down as soon as he had enough room for it. He'd ordered some food from the bar right before the explosion of people appeared, and he wanted to be back at his table when they brought it.

It took a while for the waiter to get his food to him of course, but he'd kinda expected that with the crowd. Thankfully everyone cleared out pretty quickly – which also told him that this Lacy person was a pro at her job. The whole process was like an oiled machine that'd run a million times before.

By the time he got his food, she was clearing up and headed out with her cart, which nearly made him choke as he stood to run after her. But before he got to the door, she came back in and he skidded to a halt. She didn't even look at him as she walked over to the bar and hopped up on a stool to talk to the bartender, so he sighed and headed back to finish his food.

As he got back to his table, a new guy popped up and distracted him by chatting around – asking him where he was from and stuff like that. Michael seemed like a pretty cool guy, and Natsu enjoyed joking around with him for a couple of minutes as he finished up dinner. Then he ran off, and Natsu glanced back over to the bar and huffed, '_phew_,' when he saw that that the Lacy Duck hadn't left while he wasn't looking.

Now that he had his attention fully on her, he took a good long look and cocked his head. Based on her outfit he'd guess she was a gardener or something like that.

She and the bartender were talking really animatedly, and pretty loudly too, so he was able to pick up a few words of their conversation if he strained really hard. When he heard the bartender say something about 'the Dragon' and she got super excited, Natsu couldn't resist hopping up and going over to the bar himself.

When he sat two bar stools down from Lacy, the bartender flashed him a look and quickly asked if there was anything she could get him, but he just shook his head and kept sipping on the fire whisky he'd brought over.

The bartender got right back to the conversation, and Lacy didn't even bother to glance over at him as she urged the other woman to continue.

"So, you were saying? Did the Dragon really burn all of Queen Azula's magic tapestries? I've heard that she always brags about them… she must be livid."

"Livid is a good word for it. From what I heard, all the palace servants are terrified. She's apparently given several of them awful burns for tiny mistakes. She's also burned down a couple of houses and one of the storehouses in her rampage. Anyone who crosses her even a little is being punished severely."

"That's terrible! She really has lost it this time. I always knew she wasn't all there, but I guess she was finally pushed over the edge."

"Yeah, that's putting it mildly."

"Are there any rumors that suggest how he defeated her? She's supposed to have the strongest fire magic…"

That was as good a place as any for Natsu to cut in, and he blandly said, "The Dragon is supposed to be immune to fire, so I bet she was a real pushover to him."

That got her attention, and she whipped around to fix wide brown-green eyes on him. He was a little surprised by how pretty she was, not that he thought she was gonna be a hag or somethin', but it still kinda stunned him for a second. She had super long eyelashes and pretty eyes behind those granny glasses of hers, and the rest of her face was nice to look at as well, from what he could see anyways. Her jaw and chin were hidden behind the bandanna she wore around her neck.

She did look like she might be sick or something though, because she was pretty dang thin and she had dark circles under her eyes. It made her look a lot older than he'd bet she was.

But right now she looked anything but sick, 'cause she was practically bouncing with excitement. "Excuse me? Where did you hear that?! And is it really true?!"

He shrugged. "Dunno, it's just what I've heard. I travel a lot, so I hear a bunch of rumors as I go. That's just one of a hundred."

"Really?! Has anyone figured out how he's immune to fire?! That seems so unlikely…"

"They say he was taught by a real fire dragon, so he's got some crazy old elemental magic that's been lost for a long time."

"What?! From a real dragon?! But dragons are so dangerous! And so rare! I've only ever heard of a few sightings."

"I guess he found one's home. Who knows?"

"That's so amazing…" she breathed, sounding totally wowed, and he had to suppress a snicker.

Even though he didn't laugh, she must have seen the amusement in his eyes, because a second later she narrowed hers into an almost-glare and snapped, "Are you making fun of me? Is any of what you've told me real, or are you just joking around?"

He quickly threw his hands up to show he was innocent. "Everything I said is true! I've really heard all that and more. I just thought it was kinda weird and funny how excited you got is all."

"Oh… I see," she huffed and looked away for a second, but he was pretty sure her face was redder than before.

That was also funny and weird, and this time he did end up laughing at her, which made her huff and puff some more.

She grumbled, "… rude…" and he just grinned at the back of her head and watched her ear turn red.

"So… why'd ya get so worked up anyways? Do ya just like listening to rumors or what?" he asked her brown bun.

It took a sec, but she finally turned her head back around to look at him, though she still looked a little cranky. "I just like stories in general, whether they're books or rumors or whatever. But I'm particularly interested in rumors about Fairy Tail… especially the Dragon."

"Why's that?"

She sighed and her eyes got dark in a way that made him want to cheer her back up. "You've probably already noticed, but this kingdom isn't in the best state…"

That was actually a perfect opening to get a little info out of her, so he jumped on it. "Yeah, I noticed you were handing out food earlier. Everyone seems to be starving and stuff.… How'd it get this bad?"

Her tone was downright harsh when she answered. "King Heartfilia doesn't care about his people at all, he just sees them as a means of acquiring more money. He taxes everything so highly that the common people can barely buy food, and you can forget medication and fixing their homes. The only thing he's interested in is making more money, and to hell with everyone else. The man isn't fit to be king of anything."

Natsu could feel his eyebrows crawling higher and higher up his forehead as she ranted, and when she was done he carefully stated, "Uh… you seem to really hate his guts."

"I do. He's a horrible man."

"Ah. Yeah… seems like it. Sooo… what about the other royalty? Is there a queen or anything?"

"The queen died about a year ago, and they only had one child."

"So he's got an heir, huh?"

"No, actually. The crown princess isn't his heir… he plans to remarry and have some sons instead."

"Oh…" Natsu blinked, a little surprised about that. "So she doesn't help run the kingdom or anything?"

"No, not at all… but she should still be held accountable for the state of this kingdom. So should the nobles for that matter. None of them should be living so comfortably while the rest of the kingdom suffers."

He definitely agreed. "Yeah, I hate people like that. I just can't understand how anyone can sit around on their butt and not care that everyone else is having trouble."

"Exactly," she said with a firm nod, and he knew he'd probably just found a friend.

…

They talked some more, but it wasn't long before she left, and – seeing an opportunity – he headed out after her. He hopped up on a roof and followed her from above, but he made sure not to put his foot through someone's ceiling, 'cause _damn_ were these buildings falling apart.

When she got to the noble district and went right in, he wasn't exactly surprised. He'd figured she was probably the gardener of some noble, and right now he'd bet she was dropping off her tools for the evening. She also probably got all her food from the nobles somehow, and he was dying to ask her if she was stealing it, 'cause that would be hilarious.

It was harder to follow her in the noble district since the buildings were too far apart for him to hop from roof to roof, but she didn't look behind her so it didn't really matter. Then, his eyebrows popped up his forehead and he coughed a laugh when she ended up going all the way to the castle and wheeled her cart through the servant's gate. At that point he let her go… sneaking onto the castle grounds sounded like a lotta fun, but he figured it probably wasn't the smartest idea right now. He'd save that for later.

As he reluctantly flipped around and started heading back to his inn, he thought to himself that things had just gotten a whole lot more interesting…. He might actually have to stick around for a while to get to know this chick.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_The next few hours passed in a daze as she handed out food and tried to keep herself focused on the task at hand. That turned out to be more difficult than it should have been, as a certain traveler kept invading her mind without permission. _

_Unfortunately, she couldn't completely hide her slight distraction from everyone, and apparently they could also tell that she wasn't just in another of her bad moods, because nobody asked about her 'Mister.' Instead, more than one woman asked if she'd finally found herself a new man – and Natsu came up repeatedly as a theory. Apparently news had traveled fast, and almost everyone already knew about the mysterious man that had been helping her. _

_Lucy wasn't really sure what to think of them all assuming that she was hung up on a man romantically and pairing her with Natsu. It was true that she was distracted thanks to him, but it was hardly what they thought…._

_ Or maybe it was. To be honest, she didn't know how she felt about Natsu. _


	3. CH 3: Lacy Duck

**Author's Note:**

Helloooo! It's Sunday! And I'm actually uploading on time! Yay!

First of all, I hope that everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving had a wonderful one. :D

And second of all, as always, HUGE thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to: DevilHippy, valerioux, RedFantasies, Catleana, HotvampGurl23, stranger1999, Trollka21, Starstruck-MJ, CurlyBookWriter94, GothBanshee, NarukoSon, and Lovetoreadff. You guys are all amazing. 💖

Alrighty! On with the show! And stay tuned till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter of course. ;D

* * *

Two days later, Natsu was hanging around the gate to the noble district waiting for Lacy Duck.

After meeting such an interesting person, he was super excited to see her again and talk to her some more. When she hadn't shown up at Crazy Eights yesterday, he'd done a lot of asking around town and found out that she went to different sides of the city on different days – though nobody seemed to know who he was talking about at first for some stupid reason.

Asking about her also turned up some other cool information… like, she was supposed to be some kind of fairy or something. 'Course, nobody really believed that except for the kids and a few weirdos. If she was a _real _fairy, there was no way she'd be caught dead around a bunch of humans. Everybody knew that they kept to themselves, just like the dragons.

Most people were pretty sure that she was a gardener for some noble, but they didn't know who she was exactly. They just figured that she was afraid of getting in trouble and hid her identity to protect herself. Which was pretty smart actually, and he ended up getting even more impressed with her. It was amazing that she'd been doing her thing for years and nobody had guessed who she really was.

Everything he heard just made him wanna get to know her better and hang out with her more. And that's how he wound up waiting for her at the gate, 'cause he didn't know where she'd be going today. People had mentioned some fancy sounding place as her next stop, but he had no idea where that was. So, he figured he'd just wait for her here – even though it wasn't super fun to do.

Natsu was easily bored and generally didn't have a lot of patience…. and he had even less of it when he was excited about doing something. By now, it felt like he'd been standing around doing nothing forever, and he was just about ready to crawl outta his skin.

So when she finally showed up, he immediately ran straight for her, shouting, "Hey you! Lacy Duck Chick!"

She didn't look at him until he skidded in front of her, and then she stopped so fast that she almost fell into her cart. When the wheelbarrow-thing looked like it'd fall over, he grabbed the front and steadied it as she flopped around trying to get her top half outta the pile of bags. When she finally pushed herself upright again, her glasses were crooked and she was pulling a weird face.

"Wh-What the heck?! Where did you come from… and what are you doing?! You scared me!" she yelled at him, sounding a little angry.

"Whoops… sorry 'bout that!"

She didn't look convinced. "Then why are you laughing?!"

He guessed laughing didn't exactly make him look sorry, but he couldn't help it. The whole thing had been way too funny…. or it was until he noticed that she had her arm tucked up against her chest like it hurt. That made him sober up real quick.

"Hey, is your arm okay? Did ya hurt it?"

She glanced down at it and grimaced again. "It was hurt two days ago actually… but I did twist it a little just now. It should be fine though."

When she pulled her other hand away, he saw the brace on her wrist. It must've been there the other day too, but it hadn't caught his attention, so he didn't remember seeing it.

Without thinking about it, he walked around the cart and bumped her outta the way with his hip and elbow. When he was where she'd been, he grabbed the cart's handles and lifted its back legs off the ground.

"What are you doing?! That's my cart!"

"Yeah… but you're hurt right? So I'm gonna push it for ya. Where to?"

She stared at him with her mouth hanging open, like he'd just shocked the heck outta her.

"Wh-Wha… um… okay… I guess that's…. thank you? Uh, this way then," she pointed and he started following her as she walked along next to him.

"I'm Natsu by the way!"

"Oh! Right, I never got your name the other day. I'm-"

He was too excited to let her finish and cut her off without thinking about it. "Lacy Duck! Right?"

She stopped walking and stared straight ahead for a second before slowly turning to give him the weirdest look ever.

"What's with _that_ look? Did I say something wrong?"

"I don't even…" She huffed and shook her head. "What did you just call me?"

"… Lacy Duck?"

Her eye twitched, and he didn't know if she was gonna start laughing or slap him.

"Um, no. People usually call me _Lady Luck_."

Oh. Well. That explained a few things.

"Huh, okay."

After a minute she turned back around and started walking again, so he picked up the cart and followed – which reminded him of something he wanted to ask her.

"So, where do ya get all this food from anyway? I mean, I'm guessing this is more food to hand out right?"

"It's just leftovers from the noble district," she replied, glancing down at the cart.

"Wow! How'd ya manage that?!" he asked, images of her sneaking into the nobles' houses like a ninja going through his mind.

"They donated it…"

That wasn't nearly as exciting as he'd hoped, and he let himself get all sulky with disappointment.

"Aw…. That's no fun…"

Apparently that surprised a short laugh outta her, and he glanced over to see her shooting him an amused look.

"You sound so sad…. What? Did you think I was stealing the food?"

"Well yeah… kinda…" he grumbled.

She chuckled again. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not a thief."

"Then why do ya hide your identity?"

"If the king ever finds out about this, he'll go after me in a heartbeat. I don't want to make it easy for him to find me."

That's about what Natsu figured, and he nodded in understanding.

There was a bit of silence, and this time she broke it. "Thank you again for pushing my cart… I hope I'm not inconveniencing you or anything."

"Huh? Why would this be inconvenient?" He'd been waiting around for ages to talk to her after all.

"I mean… you must have been doing something before running into me…"

"Not really, I was just waiting for you to show up."

"Um. You were waiting for me?" she repeated, and he noticed her stiffen up a little. "Why?"

"Why else? I wanted to talk to you again."

"I'm… flattered, but… why did you want to talk to me again? And how did you find me?"

He shrugged. "You're interesting. I asked around when you didn't show up at Crazy Eights yesterday and everyone said you went to different parts of the city every other day. So I just waited at the gate."

"That's… a little creepy, you know?"

She sounded more amused than creeped out though.

…

.

…

Which was true, Lucy wasn't particularly disturbed to find out that he had stalked her a little. Normally, the thought would have really given her the heebie-jeebies, but 'Natsu' just didn't strike her as dangerous. If anything, she felt strangely comfortable being around him and talking to him – maybe because he seemed so open and honest.

At the very least, she highly doubted he was secretly some kind of murderer, especially since he was openly associating with her around so many people. It wasn't long before they were swarmed, and their conversation trickled off as Lucy's job took up most of her attention. That wasn't to say that she forgot Natsu though… especially since everyone kept asking about him.

Most of the women asked questions along the lines of, "Oh! And who are you?!" or, "Who is this?! He's cute!" While the men generally came off as more aggressive, with things like, "Oi… what're you doin' with Lady Luck?" and, "Hey Dude! I ain't never seen you around before…"

One or two even asked if he was her boyfriend, which she always responded to with a very quick no. Mostly she just introduced him as a traveler named Natsu who happened to be very helpful and friendly, and he sometimes interjected things about himself or how they'd met.

It was all pretty exhausting, and half the time Natsu just made things worse by creating even more chaos. There was more than one moment where someone – usually a guy – got a little too aggressive with him, and it usually resulted in Natsu going nose-to-nose with them and almost picking a fight.

It definitely didn't take Lucy long to realize he was a hothead, but funnily enough, even though he kept picking fights and getting rowdy, he never actually seemed particularly _angry_ about any of it. He had an alarmingly quick temper, and he certainly came off as mad… but the more she watched him, the more she realized that it was completely superficial anger. There was never any true wrath or hostility in his eyes, and he was always quick to laugh it off after as though nothing had happened. It made her wonder if anything ever actually got under his skin, or if he could laugh off anything.

Of course, she couldn't spend too much time thinking about him, because she had a job to do and couldn't afford to be distracted.

As she finished setting up her cart in The Diamond Rogue – the dancehall that she always went to on the westside – Natsu stepped back and waved. "I'll catch up with ya when you're done, okay?"

Lucy's heart sped up and she could feel her stomach twist in a disconcerting manner, which made her realize that she really did want to see him again. It was actually a little weird how excited she was to know that this wasn't 'goodbye.' He was definitely strange, and she could already tell that being around him would be completely exhausting… but that didn't dissuade her at all, because she could also see that he brought excitement and fun with him too.

"Oh, okay! I'll see you later then!" she called back as he disappeared into the crowd.

…

The next few hours passed in a daze as she handed out food and tried to keep herself focused on the task at hand. _That_ turned out to be more difficult than it should have been, as a certain traveler kept invading her mind without permission.

Unfortunately, she couldn't completely hide her slight distraction from everyone, and apparently they could also tell that she wasn't just in another of her bad moods, because nobody asked about her 'Mister.' Instead, more than one woman asked if she'd finally found herself a new man – and Natsu came up repeatedly as a theory. Apparently news had traveled fast, and almost everyone already knew about the mysterious man that had been helping her.

Lucy wasn't really sure what to think of them all assuming that she was hung up on a man romantically and pairing her with Natsu. It was true that she was distracted thanks to him, but it was hardly what they thought….

Or maybe it was. To be honest, she didn't know _how_ she felt about Natsu. There were some things she wasn't sure she liked about him – like his impulsiveness – but there were other things that she found really appealing.

For one, she liked that he was an open book. They hadn't known each other for very long, but she already felt like she knew a lot about his personality… which was a huge breath of fresh air compared to all the fakeness at court. But even in the common district, she hadn't met anyone as straight-forward and open as Natsu, so she suspected that he was just a very unique individual.

Another reason why she wasn't sure how she felt about him, was the fact that she also found him pretty attractive. When he'd come up and talked to her at the bar a couple of nights ago, she had been surprised by how handsome he was. His eyes were tilted up and sharply angled in a way she hadn't ever seen before, and the rest of his features were fairly sharp as well – _literally_ in the case of his teeth. The large, sharp canines gave his smile a wolfish quality that she found a little too appealing. Up close, she had also noticed that his skin was a warm golden tan that was too even to completely be the work of the sun.

Another thing that had caught her attention was the large scar on his right cheek, reaching nearly to his eye. It was silly, but she actually found the mark kind of cool… mostly because she knew that the Dragon also had a scar on the right side of his jaw. There was no way she thought Natsu could be the Dragon – he was too goofy to be a scary person like that – but having a similar scar gave her fangirl feelings.

All in all… the more the thought about it, the more she wondered if her friends were on to something. Maybe she _was_ sprouting a little crush on Natsu. That would be crazy though, because she had always been under the impression that romantic feelings took longer to develop.

On the upside, she was so preoccupied that the time passed incredibly quickly, and suddenly she was finished before she knew it. She blinked in surprise as she handed out the last of her food, and it took her a moment to really believe it before she started cleaning up her bags. Even when she wheeled her cart out into the alley behind the dancehall, she still felt a little dazed.

Once that was done, she turned, planning to go back inside and rest at the bar for a little while. However, there was an unexpected figure behind her, and she squeaked and jumped in alarm as soon as she spotted them.

It took her a little while to recognize the shadowed silhouette, but his strange white scarf reflected enough light that she was able to identify him.

"You… you jerk! You scared me!" she yelped, holding her chest and feeling it rise and fall too quickly.

"Sorry," he said with enough laughter in his voice that she doubted the sincerity of his apology. She was caught between irritation and amusement that he didn't even bother to try sounding sorry.

"Are you now?" she asked, unable to hide the sour note in her voice and surprised by how easily it slipped out. Normally, she was much too guarded to let her negative emotions out.

He just laughed, and she found herself rolling her eyes and chuckling along with him.

"Well… I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You did say we would talk some more once I was done… but I just didn't expect you to appear so suddenly."

"You sure do scare easily, Weirdo," he replied with more laughter, and she felt herself puff up with righteous indignation.

"Excuse me?! What did you just call me?!"

"Um… Weirdo?" he said dryly, like he thought she was stupid or something.

"Wha… are you serious?! What's that supposed to mean?!"

He perked up and she could practically hear the smile in his voice as he bluntly stated, 'Cause you're weird!"

She was left speechless for a long moment in the face of that crazy exchange…. but he didn't seem fazed at all.

"So, do ya wanna go inside? Or talk out here?"

The sudden shift in their conversation threw her for a loop, and she ended up stammering a little as she tried to decide if he was intentionally changing the topic because she'd gotten upset, or if he was just saying whatever happened to be on his mind.

"I… I guess we probably should. Talking out here might draw unwanted attention or spark rumors… and there are already enough of those floating around right now."

"He he, I guess you don't want people sayin' that 'Lacy Luck' was gettin' lucky in an alley, huh? But we'd haveta be a lot closer for anyone to think that."

She instantly flushed, unfamiliar with what was obviously a euphemism, but able to pick it up easily enough. It almost slipped by her with his casual delivery, but a slight emphasis on '_lucky_' and the following reference to proximity suggested that he meant kissing or something like that.

"I have no idea what sort of 'luck' you could possibly be talking about. What could _you_ do to improve my fortune?" she huffed, both irritated and flustered.

He burst into a round of raucous laughter at her stuffy response, and she pursed her lips to keep from smiling a little.

"Also… you still got my name wrong. It's Lady Luck, not Lacy Luck."

"Okay. Fair enough," he offered, still chuckling.

She huffed again and headed back towards the dancehall. "Come on, let's go inside."

"Sure."

Natsu followed as she made her way inside, and they took a table in a back corner, away from prying eyes and ears.

On the way, he trotted up to walk next to her and asked, "So what kind of rumors are there about us?"

Lucy cringed and instantly regretted saying anything. "Oh… it's nothing, don't worry about it."

He sulked and grumbled, "I shoulda stuck around to hear what people were sayin' I guess. But I was starving, so I got dinner while you were doing your thing…"

"It's just as well that you didn't," Lucy quickly assured, not wanting him to hang around next time and overhear the embarrassing rumors about them.

By that point they were settled at their table, and Natsu had ordered a glass of fire whisky – which told her that he was at least eighteen years old – while she got a simple glass of water.

In an effort to change the subject, she asked, "So, Natsu… what brings you to this kingdom?"

"Just passin' through. I told ya I'm a traveler."

"Does your job make you move around a lot?"

"Nah. Money's not really an issue for me."

"Oh, I see. So you're a noble."

He shrugged and looked a little uncomfortable. "I guess you could say that…"

She felt herself automatically close up a little at that information, immediately wondering if she'd misjudged him.

Carefully modulating her tone, she asked, "Then why _do_ you travel?"

He shrugged again. "I wanted to see what the world was like. I like adventure."

"So you mainly travel for entertainment then," she stated, feeling her spirits drop a little more. He was turning out to be just another frivolous noble, and it was a much bigger disappointment than she'd expected.

After a moment though, something occurred to her and she frowned, asking without thinking, "But if that's the case, why are you staying in the common district instead of the noble district?"

"No way," he spat casually, startling her with the sudden passion in his tone. "When I see people hurting, I wanna help them… and there's no way I'd hang around with a bunch of jerks who don't give a shit about anyone but themselves."

Her chest suddenly felt much lighter as she realized that he really was the kind of man she'd thought he was. But on the downside… she also had to acknowledge just how tense she had gotten trying to imagine Natsu as just another snotty noble, and she scolded herself for investing so much into him. It couldn't be a good thing for her to be this interested.

It was tough not to like him though, when she was starting to discover how much they had in common. He was also of noble birth, but he preferred to stay in the commons and help people in need. They both had a strong sense of right and wrong, and they both hated seeing other people suffer.

It was those sorts of things that drew her to him so strongly, and she ended up getting flustered despite her best attempts not to.

"Oh… that's good. I… uh, have to admit that I was a little concerned for a moment when I heard your status…"

"You thought I was a stuck-up jackass?" he asked with a grin and no malice in his eyes.

She still flushed with shame and averted her eyes, feeling guilty for jumping to conclusions, and accidentally slipped into court-speech to apologize. "Yes… much to my regret. I apologize for leaping to such an unsavory assumption."

He burst out laughing, and her eyes shot back up to his in confusion. She had expected him to be at least a little miffed, but all she saw in his expression was amusement.

At her stare, he sputtered to a halt and managed to say, "The way you said that was hilarious! Where'd you learn how to talk all weird and fancy like that, Lady Duck?"

Aggravation abruptly stiffened her spine and she realized that this man had the ability to tick her off unlike anyone else. The emotion she was experiencing now was definitely different from anything she'd ever experienced before, and it left her wondering what to do with it.

_Anger,_ she was familiar with. She felt it all the time towards her father and the nobles… but it had always been cold and painful inside her chest, like she had swallowed a huge chunk of ice. It was pure poison laced with fear, loathing, impotence, and dread. In stark contrast, this new emotion felt more like a fire had been lit in place of the ice and everything inside her was being thawed… until she was practically buzzing with itchy, hot energy.

Maybe the difference was that this form of anger was lacking all the heartache and pain she usually associated with it, and though it was stronger than irritation, it wasn't rage by any means. There was even some amusement laced somewhere in the mix, and she had never known that anger could feel even slightly pleasant. It was actually weirdly liberating.

She didn't know how to control the rush of strange fire, and once again responded without thinking.

"Well excuse me for attempting to apologize! And did you really just call me 'Lady _**Duck**_?!' What the heck, Natsu?!"

His eyes went wide and his cheeks puffed up with a spit of laughter as he pointed at her and said, "W-wow… you are so pissed!"

That just made her angrier and she stood up from her chair abruptly, making it screech.

"I'm out of here," she growled.

That finally got his attention, and his expression switched from being amused to worried. "Woah, woah… wait up… I'm sorry. I just didn't expect you to blow up like that is all… it kinda surprised me."

She flushed, suddenly feeling embarrassed about her lack of self-control. After uncomfortably clearing her throat, she slowly sat back down, keeping her gaze averted and thinking to herself, '_What's wrong with you, Lucy? Pull yourself together!'_

"I apologize for losing my temper like that…" she eventually grumbled, feeling how stiff and formal it came out.

"You sure do like to apologize, don't ya?"

That was a little silly for him to say, since he'd apologized a lot more than she had over the course of the entire day… but she doubted he remembered that, since ninety nine percent of his had been offhanded comments.

"No, no really," she muttered somewhat sullenly.

Honestly, she felt like she was constantly apologizing to her father, and the words had stopped meaning anything to her a long time ago.

He cocked his head and quirked his brows in a confused way. "If you don't like to do it, then why did ya?"

"Because I was rude, and apologizing is the appropriate thing to do."

"Wow… working for nobles must suck if you've gotta be so proper all the time."

"It can. I've had to grovel and apologize so much that I don't feel anything anymore when I say it," she admitted with a grimace.

"Yeah well, you never have to worry about apologizing to me. I don't care if ya blow your top. Feel free to be as bitchy as you want."

For some reason, she was incredibly touched by his offer, and it felt like she'd been punched in the chest with the sudden pressure there. Her eyes teared up, but she managed to blink the moisture away after a moment and hoped that he hadn't noticed.

Since she couldn't figure out what to say to that, she let the conversation trail off into silence once again.

It didn't stay that way for long though, because Natsu was a very chatty person.

The more they talked and the more she got to know him, the more interested and drawn to him she became. It didn't take long to verify that his personality was sunny, boisterous, and energetic to a point that she sometimes had a hard time keeping up with him. He continued to laugh and smile freely, and he seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve – so much so that she had a hard time imagining him being able to hide any sort of emotion. That was also partly because he shot straight from the hip with whatever happened to cross his mind, and he paid exactly zero attention to social graces and manners.

He would make a horrible diplomat.

It wasn't long before she began to wonder if he'd been sent away from home so he wouldn't embarrass himself or his family – knowing how nobles could be, she wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. He was as far from a noble as she could imagine and doubted that he could ever attend a noble social function with any sort of grace. Just attempting to picture him in that sort of setting nearly had her laughing.

She could easily see herself becoming attached to him, despite constantly reminding herself that he was simply passing through and wouldn't be here long. If anything, the thought just made her want to be with him even more, since their time together was limited. She wanted to get as much as possible out of this new friendship and soak it in with every fiber of her being.

She almost dreaded it, but eventually she felt compelled to ask, "So Natsu… how long do you intend to stay in Lampro Capnia?"

"I wasn't gonna stay long, but I kinda changed my plans recently. I think I'll hang around for a bit."

Hopefully the joy she felt jumping up into her throat wasn't _too_ visible. "That's good to hear. I would enjoy spending more time with you… if you have time, of course."

"Yeah, same. And time's not a problem."

She flushed at his response – and the fact that she'd even asked to spend time with him in the first place. What the heck had gotten into her?

Then something he said struck her as weird and she frowned, distracted from her embarrassment by confusion. "But… didn't you just say that you had plans keeping you here?"

A second later, she realized that might have come off as rude or nosey and hurried to add, "Sorry if I seemed like I was prying… you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Nah, I don't have anything I've gotta do… well, nothing _immediate_ anyways. So I've got plenty of time to hang out with you."

"Oh, okay, good…" she sighed in a tone that was probably a little too relieved, and then she abruptly yawned.

That made her realize that the time had slipped by without her even realizing it, and they were the last two patrons in the bar.

"Ack! What time is it?!" she asked, alarmed. If she got home too late, Aquarius would tear Lucy apart.

"Ya gotta go?" Natsu asked as he stood and ambled after her as she rushed out of the pub.

"Yeah, my… _aunt_ will be extremely mad at me for staying out so late."

He hummed. "You must have a scary aunt to have you rushing like this."

"Yes, she's actually quite terrifying," Lucy replied somberly, which prompted him to wince.

He stole her cart again and wheeled it all the way back to the castle gate for her before he let go of it.

As he finally handed it back over to her, he hopefully asked, "You wanna meet again tomorrow?"

Her heart squeezed pleasantly and she could feel her cheeks flush with warmth. "I would like to, but I won't be coming into town tomorrow. I could meet with you on Thursday though…"

His face slid into a pout and he grumbled, "Fine… if that's the soonest we can hang out, then I guess that's alright."

It shouldn't have made her feel as warm and bubbly as it did that he wanted to see her sooner. Honestly though, she felt the same and wished she could see him tomorrow as well. "Alright then. I'll be handing out food at the Lazy Frog Tavern on Penniore street, if you would like to meet me there."

"Kay. See ya then, Duck Lady."

She gritted her teeth and felt her eye twitch. "Are you just really horrible with names, or do you come up with these stupid nicknames because you think it's funny?"

He shrugged with a grin, and then he cocked an eyebrow as his smile turned a little mischievous. "I don't actually know your name though, so does it matter?"

Clever man.

She ended up huffing a quite laugh despite herself. "Touché. Then why don't you try calling me 'Lucky' instead… since 'Lady Luck' is apparently too hard for you."

His eyes and smile were unrepentant and he said nothing, which suggested that she would probably hear more stupid names in the future. Leaving it for now – mainly because she was out of time – she sighed and turned towards the gate, throwing a farewell over her shoulder.

"Goodnight, Natsu."

"'Night," he chirped back, and for some reason the simple exchange had her heart rate increasing.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_"That's so cool…" she sighed, looking really amazed and impressed, and he puffed up even more with pride. _

_"Can I touch it?"_

_He blinked at her question. Nobody had ever asked that before, so it surprised him and he automatically started to say, 'No way.'_

_But then he changed his mind before the words came out, and instead he said, "Sure, why not?"_

_The table they were at was really small, so she just reached across and he held out the end for her to feel. She gently grabbed it and rubbed it between her fingers, and her mouth popped open in an 'O' shape as she felt it._

_"Oh wow… that's amazing!"_

* * *

PS: Extra brownie points for anyone who can guess what Lucy is touching. ;D


	4. CH 4: The Tea is Hot

**Author's Note:**

Hello all! It's Sunday! And that means a new upload. ;D

As always, HUGE thanks to all my wonderful reviewers. Big hugs and kisses to: stranger1999, ABT4Life, Roxie14, jules828, valerioux, FireShifter, DevilHippy, TheCoolestKidinMagnolia, Anna5949, Lovetoreadff, GothBanshee, and Catleana.

Also, extra brownie points to: stranger1999, ABT4Life, Roxie14, valerioux, DevilHippy, TheCoolestKidinMagnolia, Anna5949, Lovetoreadff, GothBanshee, and Catleana for correctly guessing my question at the end of last chapter. Good job guys!

We've got a fun chapter ahead, so without further ado on with the show! And stay tuned till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter. ;D

* * *

As expected, Lucy had gotten a stiff lecture Wednesday morning from Aquarius for getting in so late the night before, but the princess couldn't bring herself to regret it. She'd had too much fun with Natsu, and if given the chance, she would do it all over again.

In fact, she'd spent all of that day wishing that it was Thursday already so she could meet with Natsu… which was a little worrying. She was _**so**_ excited to see him again that she had started to get concerned about her feelings for him. What if she really was interested in him as more than just a potential friend? It didn't seem entirely normal to be so eager to see him that she spent the whole day distracted and barely slept that night.

She got herself so worked up, that when Thursday finally did roll around and she was wheeling her cart out of the castle gate, she nearly had a heart attack when Natsu popped up out of nowhere.

She yelped and jumped a little, but at least she didn't nearly knock over the cart or fall into it today.

"Natsu?! What are you doing here? I thought we agreed to meet at the tavern today…"

He blinked as if he had forgotten all about that. "Did we? Eh well, I couldn't have waited that long anyways. Besides! Don't ya need a hand moving this cart?"

"I…" she started, but didn't get to finish since he was already hijacking the cart. "Hey! I didn't say 'yes!'"

"Heheh…" he chuckled shortly and sent her a broad cheesy grin.

"Oh geez… alright, fine," she huffed, blushing and caught between irritation at his highhandedness and touched by his thoughtfulness. "Follow me."

"Aye sir!" he chirped, and she felt her eyebrows screw together, wondering why he'd called her 'sir.'

"Um… I'm not a guy you know…"

"Huh? Yeah, I know that, Weirdo."

A blood vessel started pounding on Lucy's forehead and she growled, "Don't call me 'Weirdo!'"

"But you are weird! Why'd you suddenly say you're a girl? Unless… are you really a guy and you're trying to cover it up?!"

His eyes got big and he shot her a suspicious look that just made her more aggravated.

"NO! I'm not a guy! I just said that because you called me 'sir!'"

"Huh? When?"

"When you said, 'aye sir!' Just a second ago!" she yelled, reaching her limit.

"Oooh!" he said, drawing out the word, and then he started laughing. "I wasn't calling you a guy, that's just something I picked up from my buddy back home. He always says that."

Once she finally got an explanation, Lucy started calming down and rolled her eyes at him. Honestly, this guy was an idiot sometimes.

"Okay. That makes sense," she grumbled, sighing a little.

He just kept chuckling, and after a while she started smiling too, thinking that the whole thing had been pretty ridiculous.

After a bit, Natsu interrupted the silence to ask, "Um… where're we going anyways? The common district is that way."

"We're going to get food from the nobles… remember how I told you some of them donate their leftovers?"

"Oh yeah! Cool."

It didn't take long after that to get to the first house she intended to visit, and they looped around the back to knock on the kitchen door. She didn't have a key for this one, since the kitchen was right there at the back of the house.

A few moments after knocking, the kitchen maid opened the door and smiled at her, greeting her with a warm, "Afternoon, Lady Luck."

"Good afternoon, Tracy," she responded with a smile.

"Let me just go get the leftovers. The mistress was quite pleased… there are some lovely fruits we were able to save for you."

"That's wonderful! Thank you, Tracy. And be sure to thank Lady Silveen for me as well."

"Of course!" the maid said with a smile and then disappeared into the house. Soon she returned with a canvas bag full of food, and Natsu quickly wheeled the cart forward to receive it.

Tracy's eyebrows shot up on her forehead in surprise. "Oh! I'm so sorry, I must have somehow missed you earlier. How rude of me…"

"Huh? What're you talking about? I was over there, so there's no way you would've seen me anyways."

He jerked his thumb to the left to indicate where he'd been standing off to the side watching the chickens – and probably pestering them. It was true that Tracy wouldn't have seen him unless she leaned out of the door and looked all the way to her right.

"Oh, I see. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you…?"

"Natsu! I'm helpin' out Duck Lady here."

Lucy groaned and face-palmed, before turning to give him an exasperated glare. "Didn't I tell you to call me Lucky? Stop trying to call me Lady Luck if you can't get it right!"

"Oh right…" he said with a big grin, and Lucy had a hard time believing that he wasn't doing this on purpose just to irritate her.

"Natsu!"

"Yeah, yeah… I got it. Lucky, right?"

"Yes!"

The sound of laughter made Lucy freeze, and she turned to see Tracy trying to smother her giggles with her palm. Lucy blushed, realizing that she and Natsu had just made a spectacle of themselves, and for what felt like the millionth time she wondered what was wrong with her. Why couldn't she control herself around him?

Tracy quickly pulled herself together and said, "I apologize for laughing, it's just really good to see you with someone that you obviously get along with so well, Lady Luck."

Then she turned to Natsu. "And thank _you_ so much for helping her."

"You help me too, Tracy," Lucy protested immediately. "If it weren't for you and your mistress I wouldn't have enough food to give out to the people."

The maid laughed. "Oh, yes, I suppose so… But I meant with the physical labor. It must be hard on you to wheel around such a heavy cart every day. Especially with your hurt wrist."

"Well… that's true. He is a big help in that regard."

Natsu sent her a beaming grin as thanks for her praise, and she felt her cheeks heat up, making her want to fidget in place under his smile.

"I hope it's feeling better. Your wrist I mean."

Lucy snapped back to attention and hoped that Tracy hadn't noticed her getting flustered. "Yes it is, thank you for asking."

"Of course. I've been worried… as I'm sure everyone else has been."

"Yeah, it definitely looks that way," Lucy chuckled fondly, thinking of how everyone kept asking her if she was feeling better.

After a few more moments chitchatting around, Tracy had to return to work and they left her to it.

They spent the next hour or so going around from house to house collecting food… and introducing Natsu. All of the kitchen staff and maids that Lucy normally interacted with were very interested in him, and some even asked if this was the man she had been with on Tuesday – which told her the rumor mill was working in overtime. Of course, that meant that even more rumors about them were going to start flying around now that she'd been seen with him again.

She heated up with embarrassment at the idea, and every time someone insinuated that there was something more going on between them, she became the cousin of a tomato. That definitely wasn't doing her any favors, but she couldn't help getting flustered about it. Having Natsu right there made it much harder to keep her cool.

Once they finally finished gathering food, Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment at least, she didn't have to worry about people prying into her social life. She knew she would have to deal with another round of questions when she made it into the common district, but it was still nice to have a short reprieve.

…

.

…

Meanwhile, Natsu was deep in thought for once. He usually didn't like overthinking stuff, but this was kinda special.

He wasn't deaf, and he'd overheard all the stuff those maids said to Lucky Duck – or whatever her name was. He was terrible with names, and sometimes the ones that he came up with stuck around longer than a person's actual name…. but that was the last thing on his mind right now.

He might've missed what was going on if those people had been subtle, but some of them had come right out and asked if they were a couple. After that, he'd have to be stupid not to pick up on the vibe goin' on. Everyone seemed super convinced that he and Ducky were together like _that_, and he had no idea how to react. Sure, a few people had mentioned it yesterday, but he hadn't even noticed. Today though, EVERYONE was asking about it, so he couldn't ignore it.

It took him by surprise, 'cause the thought hadn't even crossed his mind. He already had a girlfriend, so there was no way he would ever like another girl as anything other than a friend. That's the way those things worked… when you were in love, you didn't fall in love with anybody else.

So he pretty much blew it all off and decided to ignore the whole thing as stupid.

But that was kinda hard to do with everyone – and their son, aunt, cousin, mother, brother, and grandma – suddenly wanting to get all up in their business. He pretty much laughed it off and kept telling everyone that he was just a friend helping Ducky out, but having to repeat himself so much got real old real fast.

Weirdly though, it wasn't the question that bugged him, it was just having to say the same thing over and over that got super boring. The idea itself of being with Ducky didn't actually bother him at all…. It did make him feel all weird and funny, but not in a _bad_ way. He just figured that it was probably such a strange thought that he reacted all squirmy and hot because he didn't know what to do with it.

Besides, watching Ducky get all freaked out was pretty funny and distracting, so that helped him keep his cool. Otherwise he probably would've completely run out of patience and picked a fight with everyone by now.

When they finally got to the tavern, he left her to do her thing and got outta there. He might've thought she was fun to watch, but that wasn't enough to keep him around to deal with the crowd of crazies.

There were a million other things he would rather do… not that he really _had_ anything else to do right now, but he'd come up with something.

The first thing that came to mind was food, so he made a beeline to the nearest place he could get some dinner. He still had enough jewel for another month, and it probably wouldn't take that long to finish up his current job, so he wasn't worried about it.

It wasn't like he'd lied to Ducky – he really was a noble – but he hadn't actually taken any money from home when he left. His job paid well though, and since he couldn't tell her what he did for a living, it was better to let her think he just wandered around with a pocket full of money from his folks. The idea of her thinking that kinda rankled, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

Actually, he was a little surprised that it bugged him so much that he couldn't tell her everything about himself. He'd thought he was totally used to that by now, and it'd never bothered him before… but something about her was different. She was super nice and really fun to hang out with, and they got along so well that it felt like they'd known each other a lot longer than a week.

Well… sometimes it felt that way. Other times he felt a little jumpy and kinda weird and uncomfortable around her… but in a good way. He just figured that either her weirdness rubbing off on him, or it was a side-effect of not knowing her for very long. She was still new and exciting – like a new toy to play with. Not that he thought about her like that, it was just the only way he could describe the jittery happy feeling he got when he thought about hanging out with her some more.

He hadn't made a new friend in a while, so that was probably all it was. He must've forgotten just how fun and energizing it was to make a new friend.

…

Once his belly was full and he'd gotten bored of sitting around thinking, he started heading back to the Lazy Frog. Since there was nothing else to do really, he hung around outside while the crowd slowly got smaller and smaller. It seemed to take forever to him, but honestly the whole thing went pretty damn fast considering there was only one person handing out food to so many people.

'_Ducky sure is amazing, she's really got this down_,' he thought to himself, feeling impressed.

When the last of the people finally trailed off to wherever, he hung around outside waiting for her to come out with her cart. He guessed that she'd probably drop it off outside and then head back in to hang out at the bar – same as the last two times.

Sure enough, a few minutes later she popped out of the tavern and dropped her empty cart off at the far side of the porch.

A thrill went through him as soon as he saw her and a big grin automatically popped up on his face. He bounced up the steps and got right up beside her, slinging his arm over her shoulders without thinking about it.

"Yo!"

She squeaked and got some serious airtime, then whirled around and pushed him off her.

"What is wrong with you?! Can't you say hello like a normal person?!"

"What do ya mean? I did say hello like a normal person…"

"No you didn't! You snuck up behind me and grabbed me!"

"I didn't sneak!" he argued back, frowning a little.

She pursed her lips and looked away… and he was pretty sure she was blushing. "Well… yeah, I heard you coming, but I didn't know it was _you_."

"So what do ya want me to do about it? Sounds like it's your fault for not turning around," he grumbled.

Really, he wasn't all that annoyed with her for being pissy, but he did think she was being kinda dumb and weird about this. Plus, it was just fun to pick a fight with her.

"I didn't have time! You should announce yourself sooner! And while we're at it, don't just drape yourself over me like that!"

He hadn't exactly planned to grab her; it'd just felt like the right thing to do at the time. It was an impulse, and Natsu wasn't exactly good about fighting impulses. He'd probably do it again if the urge popped up. And anyways, he didn't really see the problem with it… it'd just been a friendly gesture after all.

"What's wrong with putting my arm over your shoulders?"

"It's embarrassing! You don't just go around touching people like that!"

That confused him for a second. If he really thought about it, he guessed that he normally wouldn't have done that… except maybe to his closest friends. He was pretty hands-on and liked to rough-house, but he didn't exactly go around touching people super casually. But somehow it hadn't felt strange to touch Ducky like that, so he wondered if he already considered her a close friend.

He thought about it for maybe a minute, but then he just shrugged and chalked it up as another weird thing about Ducky.

"Eh, whatever. Come on, let's go in already!"

He grabbed her wrist – the healthy one – and dragged her along behind him as he marched inside the tavern.

"Natsu! Hey! What are you doing?! You can't just…!"

He sent her a grin over his shoulder and ignored her complaining as he pulled her all the way to a table in the back of the bar.

"What the hell was that?!" she burst when he dropped her in a chair and sat across from her.

"Didn't you wanna hang out in here?"

"Well, yes, but you didn't have to yank me around like that!"

"I didn't hurt ya, did I?"

"No, but…"

"Then what's the problem?"

"What do you mean 'what's the problem?' I was literally just telling you-" She cut off when a waitress came over to ask them if they wanted anything.

As the lady took their order, she looked back and forth between them a whole lot, and when she ran off she seemed super happy for some reason. Natsu just hoped she got their order right. Even though he'd already eaten, he went ahead and ordered a huge plate of fries and onion rings and some fire ale. He was happy that Ducky also ordered some food, because she definitely looked like she wasn't getting enough to eat.

When the waitress left, Ducky hissed, "That's another reason why you have to be more careful! If people see you grabbing me and pulling me around like that, they're going to get the wrong idea!"

"You mean like thinking we're a couple and stuff?"

She blushed and nodded.

When she didn't say anything, he asked, "But they all already think that, right? So what's the point?"

"It'll make it harder to prove that we aren't!"

"Eh, they'll figure it out eventually. And if they don't, who cares?"

The only thing that would bug him was if people started up bad rumors about her, but he couldn't really see that happening with how much everyone seemed to love her.

She grumbled a little after that, nothing really audible, and her face was still bright red. Eventually he couldn't resist teasing her about it because she looked so funny.

"Hey, Ducky, why're you so red?"

Instead of answering his question, she immediately got mad and snapped, "I told you to call me Lucky! Not Ducky! Get it straight already!"

Oh right… Lucky. That was her name. Or what she went by at least.

"Okay, okay… geez…" he huffed, totally unembarrassed about getting her name wrong again. Actually it was pretty funny how mad she got about it.

After a minute, she sighed and settled down a little. "Look, let's just talk about something else okay?"

"Sure. What do ya wanna talk about?"

She pulled a face like she hadn't thought about it. "I don't know… um…"

He probably could've helped her out, but his food came right about then and it took up most of his attention.

"Your scarf!"

"Hwuh?"

She winced for some reason and then repeated, "Your scarf. Where did you get it? It's very… different."

That was a big source of pride for him, so he puffed up a little and made sure to gulp down all the food in his mouth before saying anything.

"My master gave it to me! It's made of dragon scales!"

"Dragon scales?! Where the heck did he get dragon scales?!"

Natsu just shrugged and grinned at her.

She must've assumed that meant he didn't know, because she didn't ask again. Instead she said, "Well that explains the texture of it… I was thinking it had to be some kind of scaly leather."

"Good guess, but nah. It's scales sewn together with magic."

"That's so cool…" she sighed, looking really amazed and impressed, and he puffed up even more with pride.

"Can I touch it?"

He blinked at her question. Nobody had ever asked that before, so it surprised him and he automatically started to say, 'No way.'

But then he changed his mind before the words came out, and instead he said, "Sure, why not?"

He'd never let anyone touch his scarf before, but he didn't mind the thought of Lucy touching it for some reason. If anything, he wanted to see more of that awe-struck look on her face.

The table they were at was really small, so she just reached across and he held out the end for her to feel. She gently grabbed it and rubbed it between her fingers, and her mouth popped open in an 'O' shape as she felt it.

"Oh wow… that's amazing! It's so much softer than I'd thought it would be!"

"Yeah, but it's really tough. Nothing can hurt it."

"Wow…" she sighed again, grinning at him. Then she cocked her head and he could see that she'd thought of something else.

"So… you said your master gave it to you? Was he your teacher or something?"

"Yeah, something like that. After I left home, he took me in and taught me a bunch of cool stuff."

Her eyes started sparkling weirdly and she leaned forward. "That sounds like something straight out of a novel! How did he find you?"

"I just sorta ran into him one day, and we got to talking about stuff. When I told him my situation, he offered to take me in."

"And what sorts of things did he teach you?"

"I dunno… how to survive in a forest, how to hunt, how to make a fire, how to defend myself… you know, stuff like that."

"It sounds like he was trying to give you all the tools you needed to succeed in life."

"Yep. Pretty much. Igneel was the best master ever… I dunno where'd I'd be if he hadn't taken me in," Natsu hummed, a wave of good feelings smacking him in the face.

It'd been a long time since he'd last visited Igneel, maybe he should make that trip after this job. The main thing that kept him from going was the four-day boat ride he would have to take…. well, that and it would kinda put him closer to home than he would like.

Almost like she was reading his mind, as soon as he thought that, Lucky blindsided him with, "And you said that you left home? I know we've talked about you being a noble… can I ask which house you belonged to? Or at least what region you came from?"

He cringed and nearly swallowed wrong, which made him cough up a lung. There was absolutely no way he was telling her that information… it was too dangerous.

"Um, yeah… I can't really tell ya that…"

She flinched a little and suddenly looked guilty. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have pried."

"It's not that! You can ask me whatever ya want, it's just… my family's kinda… crazy and dangerous."

He was glad that she perked right back up. "Oh good… I thought I'd offended you. And, uh… your family sounds very… interesting."

He couldn't hold back a snort. Yeah, she had no idea. 'Interesting' was putting it mildly.

Since she still looked pretty curious, he figured he could tell her a little about them as long as he didn't give her any specific information. Maybe if he did, she'd tell him a little more about herself too.

"Well, if you wanna know more, I guess I can tell ya _some_ stuff… just no names."

"Really? Are you sure? Because you don't have to tell me anything if you aren't comfortable with it…" she immediately said, but he could totally see how interested she was.

"Nah, it's fine. If ya wanna know some basic stuff."

"Well… I will admit that your description of them made me very curious. So, if you really don't mind, then sure! I would love to know more about you."

"Alright, cool. Well, for starters, it's just me and my brother."

"Just the two of you? What… um… I'm so sorry…"

He could tell she wanted to ask what'd happened to his parents, but she'd stopped probably 'cause she still felt like she was 'prying' or whatever.

"You don't hafta apologize or anything. I was really young when my parents died, so I don't really remember them. As far back as I can remember, my brother was the head of the house and ran the estate and stuff."

"So he's older?"

"Yep, by six years. He's usually a pretty calm guy, and he's _super_ smart – always has his nose in a book."

"He sounds really nice…"

It took him a second to figure out why she sounded so confused, but then he remembered that he'd told her his family was crazy.

He chuckled a little, feeling kinda nostalgic, and said, "Yeah well… he wasn't psycho to start with. He always had this bad habit of getting obsessed with stuff, but it didn't become a problem till later."

She still looked confused, but she nodded and hummed, "Obsessions usually are the source of a lot of problems – at least according to the stories I've read. And it's typically when a girl, money, or power is involved that things go wrong…"

"In this case it was a girl," Natsu muttered, thinking that it didn't really matter if she knew the story as long as he kept it vague.

"_Ohhh._ Okay…. and did she like him back?"

"Yeah, definitely! They totally got together and fell in love and all that stuff. She lived in another country, but she kept coming to visit us, and he went to visit her a bunch too. They were even gonna get married when they got old enough."

"Old enough? How old was he when your brother took over as head of the family?"

"Uh… about ten I guess? I was four."

"What?!" Lucky yelped, looking super shocked.

Natsu laughed, realizing that it did sound kinda crazy. "Yeah, we were pretty young, but there was a group of grown-ups that helped him run the family and all that – so it worked out fine. But yeah… he met this girl when he was probably about fifteen. They were just gonna wait a couple years."

"So what happened then? Did they get married?"

"Nope. A year later, she was offered up to a dragon as a sacrifice in her country. They were having problems with one, and that was their stupid solution."

When Lucky gasped, he nodded. "Yeah, sucks, I know. They were a bunch of idiots. Anyways, Z-uh… my brother took the news really hard and kinda went nuts. Ever since then, he's been obsessed with killing that dragon and saving her – if she's still alive. But to kill a dragon, you need a ton of power… and he was doing a bunch of shit to get that power that I didn't like."

At that point he paused, trying to figure out where he should stop the story… and sorta stuck in a bad place in his mind.

After a couple of minutes, Lucky quietly asked, "So you left because you didn't agree with what he was doing?"

Natsu scrunched up his nose and then sighed. "Sorta. We had a huge fight over it, and I ran away from home… but after a couple days I tried to go back. He was still super pissed with me though and kicked me out again… so then I had to leave for good."

He hadn't wanted to leave things like that, but he hadn't really had a choice. Zeref had been a heck of a lot stronger than him back then, so there was no way Natsu could've done anything to stop him.

"Just like that?! But… how could he do that to his own brother?! You were only, what? Ten or something?"

"Eh, more like eleven or twelve I guess… but by that point he didn't care about anything but killing the dragon. Nothing else mattered to him."

"That's just awful… no wonder you didn't want to talk about it…"

When she started looking all guilty again, he huffed and threw an onion ring at her. "Don't go blaming yourself for upsetting me or whatever… I'm just fine. That was years ago, and if it hadn't happened I wouldn't have met Igneel or any of the other friends I've made. And I wouldn't be here hanging out with you either… so it's all good. I'm happy with my life, ya know?"

She sent him a look that was a crazy mix of shocked, sympathetic, and irritated – which was hysterical.

To get her distracted – and also just 'cause he wanted to – he said, "Now it's your turn!"

That made her go all pale and jittery, and she glanced away uncomfortably. It was so bad that he almost said, 'never mind,' but she started answering before he could.

"Um… well… I just live with my father… and my scary aunt. My mother died about a year ago, so it's… still fairly fresh, and I can't really talk about it. Uh… I've lived here all my life and… that's about it really. My story is much more boring than yours."

"No it's not! You're doing this whole 'Lady Lucky' thing, and that's super cool!"

"Oh… I guess that's true… thank you," she mumbled, turning red and getting all silly and weird again.

He seriously didn't know what triggered her to act so strange sometimes… but it was just another part of what made Lucky so fun to be around.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_Normally he didn't like sneaking around, but when he absolutely had to get somewhere without being seen, he usually liked to pretend that he was a ninja. That made it fun as he dodged the guards and hopped from bush to bush to get closer to the castle. When he finally reached a balcony and used the vines dangling off it to climb up, he chuckled quietly to himself and whispered, "Nin, nin!"_

_On__ce he'd finished gloating, he ducked down and crept to the side so he could look into the large glass double doors leading into the palace ballroom without being spotted. The inside was pretty much what he'd expected… it was a huge room filled with people, food, music, and decorations._

* * *

Any ideas what might happen next chapter? ;D Whoever guesses correctly gets delicious cookies! XD


	5. CH 5: There's No Glass Slippers Here

**Author's Note:**

Hello all! It's Sunday! And you know what that means. ;D A new chapter!

Also, I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season so far. 💖

As always, HUGE thanks to all my WONDERFUL reviewers. BIG hugs and kisses to: valerioux, Roxie14, OhtaSuzuke, NarukoSon, stanger1999, sakshishetty, FireShifter, BeachBumBabe, Heavenlyeclipse, DevilHippy, Anna5949, ABT4Life, Catleana, and Lovetoreadff.

PLUS, delicious cookies to: valerioux, Roxie14, stranger1999, DevilHippy, Anna5949, ABT4Life, Catleana, and Lovetoreadff for correctly guessing what's going to happen this chapter. ;D Good job guys, I'm impressed!

Now, without further ado, on with the show! And stay tuned till the end for a sneak peek of course. ;D

* * *

Two nights later, Lucy was definitely _not_ in a fun mood.

It was an ungodly hour and she was still awake, dreading tomorrow and another stupid ball that she had to attend. She'd known it was coming, but she had spent all week trying not to think about it… which had only worked thanks to how distracting Natsu was.

However, it'd been much harder to put out of her mind today… because the ball was tomorrow. Despite her best efforts, she'd dreaded it all day, and even Natsu hadn't been able to significantly lighten her mood.

Eventually he'd asked her, "What's up?"

"What do you mean?"

"You seem kinda weird. Weirder than usual, I mean."

She'd rolled her eyes, used to him calling her 'weird' by now. She still wasn't sure _why_ he'd decided she was strange… but he had, and she just had to deal with it.

"I have to help out at a ball tomorrow evening, and I'm dreading it," she had replied gloomily, not even bothering to scold him for calling her 'weird' like she normally would.

"Huh? Why do ya gotta do that? Aren't you a gardener?"

A little spark of panic zapped her in the behind and she hurried to come up with an excuse. "Oh, uh… yeah… but… they're short on staff at the castle and I got roped into it somehow…"

He'd nodded and accepted it easily. "Oh, okay. Well that sucks. I hated all that kinda shit when I was back home… and I definitely don't miss it."

Imagining him at a ball as a noble finally cheered her up a little and she had to choke back a laugh.

"You don't say? I never would have guessed."

Even just remembering it cheered her up a little, and she sighed, thinking wistfully that it was such a shame she couldn't have a man like him permanently in her life. She would do anything to court him instead of the stupid nobles that her father invited to the balls.

Really, she'd begun to wonder if meeting him had been a stroke of good luck or bad luck, because – even in the short amount of time she had known him – she liked Natsu much more than any of the noblemen and royals she had to socialize with. She still wasn't entirely sure whether her feelings for him were romantic or not, but she already knew that he was probably someone she could happily spend the rest of her life with. And now that she knew how much it was possible to like someone, she dreaded being roped into an emotionless marriage even more… which she hadn't thought was possible.

That was a big reason why she'd been dreading this particular ball so much…. and why she was currently lying awake cursing her life.

She kept fantasizing about what it would be like to have a life with Natsu instead of the one she had now. It was pointless, and she knew it would only end up hurting her more… but she couldn't help herself. The temptation to picture them escaping this kingdom and running away together was too strong.

It would be fun and exciting and full of adventure probably, knowing Natsu and how energetic he was. They would probably travel around a lot, and for someone who had never left her kingdom, the idea was downright seductive. She _wanted_ to see new places, experience new things, eat new kinds of food, wear new clothes, and meet new people. It was a fantasy she'd had many times before – especially when she was reading about great epics and travels – but now she couldn't really imagine it without Natsu by her side. Picturing it the way she used to seemed amazingly lonely and boring now.

Then, Lucy went even further into the future and started picturing them settling down somewhere… maybe they could open up a shop or something together. Then again, she couldn't really picture Natsu ever living a sedentary life, so maybe they would keep traveling and just make a home to go back to.

By that point, she should definitely know how she felt about him… and if her feelings _did_ turn out to be romantic, perhaps someday he would return them. If that happened, they could get married and even have a family together. With how goofy and silly he was, she could just imagine him being a great dad. Although… he'd probably get their kids into all kinds of trouble, and she paused her daydream to grimace and snort at the thought.

Hijinks aside though… the fact of the matter was that the life she'd always dreaded didn't sound bad at all when he was in the picture. And that was just scary.

Honestly, it was ridiculous that she had only known him for a week and was already having a hard time picturing the future without him. Meeting him felt like an explosion had gone off in her world and destroyed everything she'd previously known. And that feeling was one of the many reasons why she had begun to seriously worry about what was going on. Though she wanted to deny it, she was fairly certain that she was at least growing a crush on him, and at this rate, she was concerned that she would end up falling in love without even realizing it.

A few feelings here and there were okay, but she really didn't want to go past the point of no return. She knew full well that any sort of relationship between them wouldn't work out… they just weren't meant to be together. With him being a traveler and her current situation as princess, the only way it could happen was if they ran away together… and that was impossible. Her father's army was just too powerful.

No, she was stuck here, having to go to ball after ball, and eventually she would be married off to someone she probably didn't even like.

And so it went… her thoughts kept circling around and around all night, going from dreading the ball and her future, to daydreaming about a better life, and back again.

…

After having such a sleepless night, predictably she woke up the next morning totally miserable. Of course, that didn't deter Aquarius from the normal morning whirlwind of activity, and somehow Lucy managed to stumble through it without passing out. Then it was off to breakfast.

When she arrived in the dining hall, she received the normal cold greeting from her father and replied with her own. For the past few days, 'hello,' or, 'good morning,' had been the maximum amount of conversation they'd had.

However, today he fixed her with a beady eye and said, "You had better be on your best behavior this evening, Lucy. I won't tolerate another incident. Remember, you are the crown princess, and you _must_ conduct yourself accordingly. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Father," she replied, grinding her teeth.

"Good," he huffed with a sharp nod, and then returned to his eggs.

After that brief and unpleasant exchange, he went back to giving her the cold shoulder and she did her best to ignore his icy presence.

Once breakfast was over, she headed towards the music room and her dreaded violin practice to prepare for the piece she would be performing at the ball tonight.

Her feet dragged, as if her throbbing wrist was a dead weight she had to carry along with her. Every practice this week had been pure torture. The bandages and healing salve helped – particularly the numbing agent in the salve – but playing an instrument wasn't good for her hurt wrist. At the very least, she knew it was probably going to increase her recovery time… and hopefully it wasn't causing more damage.

Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do about it. Her father's word was law, and if he told her to play violin at the ball, that's what she had to do. If she didn't, he would get angry and yell at her again, and – as much as she hated to admit it – her father honestly terrified her sometimes. His rages had always reduced her to a quivering lump of useless jelly ever since she was a child. As far back as she could remember, he was a titan of monstrous proportion that could never be beaten and always had to be obeyed.

And so, she obeyed… as always.

"You're late again, Princess Lucy. Please try to be punctual," her tutor politely scolded when she showed up, taking out his pocket watch and glancing at the time for emphasis.

"I apologize, Mr. Aquila."

"Hm. Very well. Let's get started immediately. You still have a ways to go before you're ready for tonight's performance."

"Yes. Of course," she dully replied, grabbing her violin and moving into the center of the room.

She gingerly tucked the instrument under her chin and placed the bow on the strings, cringing as the position immediately sent a pang through her wrist.

"Excellent form. Please start at the top of page two."

"Yes sir."

As instructed, she started at the indicated section and began to play through the pain, stopping and restarting as her tutor directed and attempting to fix the mistakes he pointed out. It slowly got worse the longer she kept at it, and soon it felt like a burning needle was lodged in her wrist, pulling on the tendons as they moved. Every twitch of her fingers was pure hell, and she had to grit her teeth against it to continue.

Eventually, when the sensation was too much to bear, she took the instrument in her other hand and cradled her hurt wrist to her stomach.

"Is there a problem?"

She flipped on her court-speech switch, because it tended to help her get what she wanted when dealing with his type. It was also a bit of a nervous habit.

"May I have a short respite? My wrist is growing quite painful."

She'd told him earlier in the week that she had sprained it, and whenever the pain was too much, she begged for a break. He would always grant it, though he obviously wasn't particularly sympathetic. If anything, he only politely expressed a certain amount of irritation and impatience.

"Very well," he huffed, sounding exasperated as usual. "But it will have to be short. We don't have much time left."

"Thank you, sir."

She gingerly placed the violin on the stand and stiffly walked out of the room. There was a small study just a little ways down the hall where Lucy had asked Brandy to hang out whenever she had to deal with music lessons. Since she couldn't really wrap her own wrist well with just one hand, she needed a little extra help with it.

Brandy certainly didn't complain, because it gave her an excuse to lounge around in an overstuffed chair for however long Lucy was busy. She didn't read any of the books in the study, but she sometimes brought her own – which she herself had declared 'trashy' – and often a snack.

When Lucy came through the door, Brandy's head flopped over the arm of the chair she was sitting sideways in and she looked at Lucy upside down.

"Oh, hey. Your wrist bothering you?"

Lucy just nodded, not really having the energy to talk about it.

Brandy hopped out of the chair and wordlessly helped her unwrap the bandage.

"Ouch…" she said dryly as it was exposed and they both saw how red and swollen it looked.

"Yeah…" Lucy replied and glanced away for a second, feeling like the pain was worse if she looked at it.

Brandy helped her to slather some salve onto her wrist, and Lucy sighed in relief as the cooling substance in it began to tingle and make her pain go numb.

"Thank heavens… that's so much better."

"You're really too messed up to keep going like this, you know. Can't you convince your slave driver that you need a break? Like… for a week or two… or three?"

"I doubt it. He's under my father's orders… and if I make a lot of mistakes tonight, it'll reflect badly on him."

"Yeah… well, that sucks," Brandy grumbled sourly – obviously unhappy about the whole thing – as they started to rebandage Lucy's wrist.

She nodded in agreement, and then once they were done securing her new wrappings, she sighed and said, "Well, anyways, thanks for the help…"

The greenette nodded and returned to her seat, saying, "Good luck. Try not to hurt yourself too bad…"

"I'll try," Lucy called back as she exited the study.

She took a few deep breaths before returning to the music room, and then marched in as confidently as she could for another round of torture.

…

The next few hours were the same – with a very short break for lunch – until it was finally time to go get ready for the upcoming ball. Though she normally dreaded the elaborate dressing procedure that preluded these events, today she was just happy to have a break from the violin.

"Brandy, unwrap her wrist and dress it again while I unbutton her dress."

"Yes, Mistress!"

Lucy just stood silently between the two, feeling pretty much limp and empty from the draining experience she'd just gone through. Dealing with pain for so long left her feeling weak, and she offered no protest as her maids passed her back and forth between them like a doll. They could obviously tell she was going through a tough time, because even Aquarius was gentler – or at least she aimed most of her orders at Brandy.

However, everything was still accomplished just as quickly, and soon Lucy was being laced into more elaborate and restrictive undergarments while Brandy braced her from the front. With her hurt wrist, Lucy couldn't hold onto the bedpost like she normally would for balance, so they had to get inventive. As such, Brandy grabbed onto her upper arms and leaned back, digging in her heels and holding Lucy in place while Aquarius strapped up the harness that would keep her from taking another deep breath for the next few hours.

Normally she would have complained at least a little, but she still didn't have enough energy for that. So instead, she just limply let them do whatever needed to be done.

After the corset, on went a ridiculously fancy dress that seemed to take forever to lace, button, tie, and otherwise put together, and then they pushed her into the seat in front of her vanity. She stared dully at her reflection, noting the ornate amethyst gown and its embroidered swirly golden vines, flowers, and leaves. She sighed and put on the matching gold floral earrings and necklace, which dripped with purple and clear crystals, and then started applying her makeup. For balls, she typically spent a lot more time on her makeup, partially because she had to at least try to camouflage the dark circles under her eyes and hollows in her cheeks. If she didn't, her dear old dad would throw a fit.

It took Aquarius just as much time to do her complicated spiral updo. She used pins that oozed with more crystals to keep the pile of hair in place, and then perched Lucy's coronet in front of the elaborate knot. Aquarius made it as comfortable as possible, but the tall hair style and heavy ornamentation was bound to pull no matter what they did, and Lucy could already feel the seed of a headache.

Everything from start to finish probably took several hours, and Lucy felt that the effort was a complete waste of time, seeing as she didn't like the end result. Dressing up to this degree always made her feel like a butterfly pinned alive to the wall to be stared at and admired – which was an ironically appropriate analogy, since the extra tight corset she had to wear for these events certainly gave her the physical sensation of being pinned.

And then she was left to wait for her entrance downstairs in the grand ballroom… when all she really wanted to do was rip everything right back off and jump out the window to escape.

…

.

…

Meanwhile, Natsu was sneaking onto the palace grounds to investigate this so-called ball that Lucky had told him about.

He figured it was probably for the princess, to help her get married and all that stuff, so it'd be a good opportunity to check her out – and her old man too while he was at it. Ever since Lucky had told him about that whole situation, Natsu had been curious about the princess. It all sounded so crappy that he kinda felt sorry for her, even though he figured she was probably a stuck-up bitch like her dad. A jerk like that couldn't possibly raise a decent human being.

Getting into the palace grounds was easy. He just scaled one of the super tall castle walls and dropped down into the gardens in the back, where there were a lot less guards.

Normally he didn't like sneaking around, but when he absolutely had to get somewhere without being seen, he usually liked to pretend that he was a ninja. That made it fun as he dodged the guards and hopped from bush to bush to get closer to the castle. When he finally reached a balcony and used the vines dangling off it to climb up, he chuckled quietly to himself and whispered, "Nin, nin!"

Once he'd finished gloating, he ducked down and crept to the side so he could look into the large glass double doors leading into the ballroom without being spotted. The inside was pretty much what he'd expected… it was a huge room filled with light from tons of fancy-ass chandeliers.

On the side closest to the balconies – and him – was a long table piled high with food that made his mouth water. Tables and chairs were set up on either side of the food spread, but the middle of the floor was empty to make a dancefloor. Directly across from him, on the other side of the room, was a full orchestra in their own fenced off area, and next to that was a huge staircase leading up to a second story and some more doors. Then, when he looked to the sides, he noticed that on the right was a pair of massive doors where all the nobles were coming and going from, and to the left was a raised platform with a throne.

It was one hell of a set-up, and Natsu rolled his eyes at it all. He didn't care if someone was rich or not, but he didn't like that so much of this kingdom's money was being poured into fancy parties like this, instead of feeding their people.

Which reminded him…

His eyes immediately began picking through the crowd, looking for Lucky… but he couldn't find her. None of the dark-haired servants were the right height or size, and none of them moved like her. Lucky always held her head high and her shoulders back, and she walked super gracefully… unless she was really happy and then she started to bounce around. But he really doubted she'd be doing any bouncing in this crowd.

The more he looked, the more frustrated he got when he couldn't spot her, but before he could do anything stupid, a fanfare distracted him.

A few seconds later, an announcer yelled, "Presenting, Her Royal Highness, Princess Lucy Heartfilia!"

He watched as one of the big double doors on the second story across from him swung open, revealing a woman standing behind them.

She was a heck of a lot prettier than he'd expected. Her hair was bright blond and it had to be butt-length at least with how high it was piled on her head. She had an hourglass figure with the tiniest waist he'd ever seen… though that was probably because she was so thin.

Actually, even though she was attractive and all… she also looked kinda sick. Her arms were stick thin and her neck looked like a pencil, even with the glittery jewels that covered up her jutting collarbone, and he could see how her cheeks were a little sunken in. Plus, that pretty pale skin of hers was really _too_ pale, and he'd bet anything her rosy cheeks were painted on. He'd also bet that her makeup was covering up some serious dark circles under her eyes and other signs of major stress.

Then she started walking down the stairs, and his eyes narrowed as something fired in his brain. There was something really weird about her that he couldn't put his finger on right away… something… familiar? Maybe he'd met her years ago at some kind of noble function when he was still living with his family.

It made him curious enough that he kept watching her, taking in the way she held herself, the way she moved, and her features over and over again, making a list in his head to go through. Blond, skinny, pale, graceful…. Then something clicked, and his eyes shot open wide as he scanned her from head to toe again, but this time with purpose.

Skinny? Check. Graceful? Check. Pale? Check. Even her face checked out – at least from this distance. The only thing off was her blond hair, but everything else lined up perfectly with Lucky… and the more he watched, the more he grew convinced that it _was_ her.

Actually, it was kind of amazing how well her disguise worked… how darkening her hair, throwing on some big granny glasses, and wearing baggy-ass clothes made her look totally different. He'd always known she was a little too thin from her face, but he never would've guessed that she was THIS skinny, and he also never would've guessed that she was blond. He could totally see how she'd managed to trick everyone with that disguise, because it really did work.

His mind was blown, and it took him a while to fully understand what it all meant.

Some of the conversations they'd had ran through his mind – specifically the ones about the nobles, the king, and even the princess – and he remembered just how angry she'd gotten when she talked about them. That meant something new to him now, and he suddenly realized that she hated _**herself**_.

His gut clenched, and for a second he felt like he might throw up. The idea that such a wonderful person hated herself so much was just absolutely horrible. Plus, that also meant that she was the one being married off… and that her father was a horrible jerkwad.

As each new piece of the puzzle clicked into place, her picture got more and more twisted, and he was pretty sure he'd never felt so bad for someone else as he did right then.

He couldn't take his eyes off her as she walked down the stairs. When she reached the bottom, a bunch of nobles immediately surrounded her and Natsu scowled, wanting to punch every single one of them. She smiled and laughed and talked, and after a minute or two she started inching around the dancefloor towards the food tables. The way she was heading, he could see that she would end up closer to a window several balconies over.

Driven by an intense desire he'd never felt before – like a hot itch right under his skin that made him feel like he was about to burst – he eyeballed the balcony next to his and judged the distance. He figured he could probably make it, so he took a couple steps back and made a running leap. It was pretty damn far, and instead of landing on top of the stone railing like he'd planned, he ended up grabbing it with his arms. He winced as the air got knocked outta him when his chest slammed into the railing, but heaved himself up and over anyways. That got him a little closer to her, but still not quite close enough to hear what was going on. There were too many voices covering up hers.

So, he eyed the next balcony, and this time backed up a lot further to get a better running start. He managed to land his second jump much better than the first and planted his feet right onto the lip of the railing.

That finally got him close enough that he could catch some of what they were saying when he cracked the glass doors. If he'd had any doubts left that this was Lucky, they'd have gone poof after he heard her voice. It was exactly the same, though much more formal and a hell of a lot more stressed. It sounded kinda flat and tight.

And now that he was this close, he could get a better look at her face… and when he saw her eyes, he almost felt like the wind had been knocked right outta him again. He didn't care that they were brown instead of that weird green color, but the look in them really, really bugged him. They were basically dead. There wasn't even a shred of happiness in them, and they looked dull and dark. Her polite laugh also sounded completely fake and hollow and hurt his ears, and her forced smile was painful to watch.

He hated hearing and seeing her like that… it was completely wrong.

After a couple minutes, one of the nobles dragged her onto the dancefloor… and Natsu just about blew his top off. It felt like a dragon was jumping up and down in his gut breathing fire everywhere, demanding that he kick that jerk's ass.

He didn't know exactly why he was so pissed about some guy touching her and yanking her around, but it definitely didn't help that she obviously hated it. The whole time, Lucky kept up that pleasant – and horrible – smile plastered on her face, and he could see it getting stiffer and stiffer, which only made him want to throw a tantrum even more.

After that song, she got away from the creep and went to a different spot at the food table.

Without even thinking about it, Natsu turned around and jumped back to the other balcony, which was closer to where she was now. He very carefully cracked that door too and leaned in as far as he dared. Lucky was standing with her hip to the table and he could see that the hand hidden behind her dress was gripping the table in a white knuckled hold.

That scared him, and he leaned a little further in to try and check out her face. Unfortunately, her head was bent down a bit, and that made it difficult to get a look at her. So, he tuned in all of his senses and focused as hard as he could to try and gather whatever info he could about her. Luckily, she was close enough to the cracked door that he started to very faintly pick up on something that made him even more worried.

He could barely hear it and see it in the way her shoulders moved, but her breathing was shallow and weak and way too fast. It looked and sounded like she was gasping for breath and was trying to hide it.

He snarled under his breath when another man came over and hassled her.

"May I have the next dance, Princess Lucy?"

"Of course, Lord Deliora, but I beg a few more moments to catch my breath."

"Ah, yes, but of course. I have always considered the more delicate flowers to be the loveliest."

Natsu wanted to yell at the bastard that Lucky wasn't 'delicate.' He'd seen her haul a fucking cart probably twice her weight with a sprained wrist. But something was definitely wrong with her, and it didn't take him long to figure out what.

He wouldn't've noticed it if he hadn't been watching her like a hawk, but he definitely saw her hand brace her side for a second in a way that usually meant something hurt. His eyes narrowed on her too small waist, and then it clicked…. She was wearing a corset, and probably a super tight one to make it that hard for her to breathe.

'_Why the hell is she wearing something like that?!'_

The answer shot into his head almost as fast as he asked the question. She probably wouldn't if she had a choice about it…. Which meant that someone had forced her into it. And _that_ pissed him off even more.

He wanted to find whoever was hurting Lucky and pound them into a flat pancake.

Way sooner than she should've, she let that guy pull her away from the food table and danced with him. Meanwhile, Natsu jumped from balcony to balcony to follow her around the room, seriously afraid she might pass out. He didn't really know what he'd do if that happened, but he felt like he needed to be nearby so he could help her _somehow_.

When that dance was over, she ended up in one of the chairs, though she sat super stiffly. But she only had a short break before the next jackass was bothering her.

Why couldn't they see she was in pain?! What the hell was wrong with all these jerkwads?!

He didn't get it and grew increasingly pissed as the whole thing got repeated over and over until Lucky was sweating bullets and nearly wheezing, though she hid it well. He was kinda amazed actually by how well she kept her cool under so much stress.

No wonder she dreaded these things. She basically had to deal with an entire night of hell.

After a while of that though, something new happened. The king stood and everyone shut up so he could talk.

"Everyone! Thank you all for coming tonight! I am delighted to have you all in my home, and my daughter is equally excited. To show our appreciation, she has asked to entertain you all with some lovely music. Please, enjoy."

Lucky happened to be in a place where Natsu could see her face, and he caught a brief flash of anger that said plain as day that she hadn't asked for any of this shit. He'd bet anything this was also her dad's idea, and he ground his teeth together as she made her way up the stairs to the stage where the orchestra had been playing. They all moved back, and she picked up a violin from somewhere and stepped in front of a hovering lacrima microphone.

When it hit him what was about to happen, Natsu's jaw dropped, and he glanced back and forth between her and her dad. The king had sat back down on his throne and was staring at her in a smug way that made Natsu wanna do some really nasty things to the bastard.

Lucky had a hurt wrist, so playing violin would be pure torture for her. He couldn't even see how she could do it at all…. But as he watched, she tucked the thing under her chin and started playing.

He couldn't believe his eyes or ears as he listened to the – actually pretty amazing – music and watched her perform it when he knew she shouldn't be able to. Her face didn't even show a lotta pain, or at least not enough for him to easily see it from across the room. But he _could_ see her shoulders getting tighter and tighter as she played, and after a while her smile turned into a tiny grimace and a small frown. The end was a little shaky, but he doubted anyone noticed.

When she put the instrument down, everyone clapped, and she curtsied and left the stage.

She was almost immediately approached by another guy as the orchestra set back up to continue playing. Natsu wanted her to tell him to shove it, but it looked like she talked to him nicely for a couple minutes before she got away and made a beeline for the balcony. When he saw which one she was headed for, he jumped over to that one to wait for her.

…

.

…

Though she knew she might get in trouble for it later, Lucy really needed a small breath of fresh air and escaped onto one of the balconies as soon as she possibly could.

Nobody else was using them tonight, thanks to a northern that had blown in the day before. Because most of the ladies were bare-shouldered, none of them wandered outside… and since the men typically stuck around the ladies, they also stayed indoors.

Of course, as soon as she ventured outside, it was only a matter of time before someone followed her; but hopefully she would have at least a few moments to herself.

The cold air was bracing and helped her to temporarily forget some of the pain in her wrist. It still throbbed though and she cringed, holding it to her chest.

"Lucky?"

She jumped and spun around to see Natsu perching on the wide stone railing of the balcony.

"Natsu! What are you doing here?!" she gasped without thinking, momentarily forgetting that she wasn't in her Lady Luck costume. Unfortunately, the sudden inhalation made her ribs cramp as they tried to break through her corset, and she broke into a fit of wheezing.

"You okay, Lucky?"

"Fine… just… breathed… too deep…"

"So you _are_ wearing one of those fucking corset things. I knew it," Natsu growled.

She nodded as she wheezed herself back to her normal shallow breathing pattern. However, as soon as she regained her senses, she nearly lost her breath again as the reality of what was going on truly hit her.

Natsu was here… at the ball… and she wasn't disguised.

Her cover had been blown.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_Unfortunately, he didn't agree to leave. Instead he obstinately crossed his arms over his chest and a scowl settled on his face. His entire countenance read, "STUBBORN," and she abruptly knew he wouldn't give in without a fight. For some reason he really, really wanted to stay, and she suspected that convincing him otherwise would take more time than they currently had. So she changed her strategy. _

_"Okay, fine. If you're going to be stubborn about it, then do whatever you want. But **please** stay out of sight." _

_"Sure. But I wanna talk to you afterwards."_

_ "Alright, alright… I'll meet you in the eastern corner of the gardens after the ball is over."_

* * *

Well, well, well... a secret rendezvous is in the works. What do you suppose they're going to talk about? Anyone wanna venture a guess? ;D


	6. CH 6: This Cinderella Doesn't Run

**Author's Note:**

Ack! It's Monday, and I'm a day behind in posting this chapter. DX

Sorry everyone! I wasn't feeling altogether well yesterday, and crashed way earlier than I usually do... *bows and begs for forgiveness*

As always, HUGE thanks to all my lovely reviewers. Big hugs and kisses to: sakshishetty3003, DoomMarine55, valerioux, stranger1999, NarukoSon, ABT4Life, Starstruck-MJ, FireShifter, Roxie14, and Mara fray. You guys are all amazing. :D

Also, there was some concern expressed about Jude being OOC in this story, and I just wanted to clarify that I know he really isn't this big a jerk in canon. I just made him that way for the sake of this particular plotline - I don't have a personal grudge against him or anything, lol. In fact, someday I'd like to write a story where he's a good father instead of a bad one, just for funzies. ;D

Alrighty then! On with the show!

* * *

Horror quickly set in as Lucy realized that she'd been discovered, but before that problem could be addressed, she heard the rattle of the glass doors behind her.

Panicking, she rushed over to Natsu's perch and hissed, "Quick! Hide!"

Right as the person behind her came out onto the balcony, Natsu jumped off the railing and Lucy gasped again, worried that he would get hurt from the fall. But she didn't have time to look, because whoever had followed her outside was now coming over to her.

"Princess Lucy, it's quite cold tonight. Why don't we go back inside? I would love to discuss music with you."

She turned and saw it was Prince Frederick, one of the nicer lords who'd come this evening. She had met him once before and thought he wasn't too bad, but right now he posed a threat.

Eager to get them inside and away from Natsu, she quickly pasted on a smile and said, "Indeed? Do you play, Lord Prince?"

As she put on the charm, she walked over to him and took the arm he offered. He led her back inside, and she resisted the urge to look back over her shoulder towards Natsu, still worried about that fall he'd just taken. However, right now it would be much worse if he was discovered, and she had to do everything in her power to make sure that didn't happen.

As such, she charmed and wheedled and conversed with Prince Frederick until another suitor pulled her from him. Prince Hibiki was also pleasant, but equally hard to get rid of. More-so actually, since she also had to deal with his two brothers, Prince Eve and Prince Ren. The three were well-known lady's men, and she'd never considered them potential partners because of that… but they certainly weren't the worst of her options.

At the moment though, she was desperate to subtly detach herself and go check on Natsu.

By focusing on her concern for his health, she was also able to distract herself from freaking out about him now knowing her identity. If he was the man she thought he was, she was sure that he wouldn't say anything if she asked him not to… but the problem there was that he might run off before she could talk to him about it.

Hoping for a break was almost ridiculous though, because the line of suitors demanding her attention never stopped. One took her from another, only to lose to her yet another, and the experience was even more frustrating and demeaning than usual.

It felt like hours before she could beg off for another short breather outside, and it was a small miracle that she managed to escape at all.

With a sigh of relief, she closed the glass doors behind her – wishing she could lock them. Then, she immediately made a beeline for the balcony rail and practically threw her upper half over the edge to look at the ground where Natsu had disappeared. She was almost afraid to look, but risked it anyways and was rewarded by the sight of unblemished grass. There was no body or even a splatter of blood to suggest that he'd been injured in the fall.

"Heya, Lucky… I'm over here."

She '_eeped_' and spun to see him perched on the other side.

"Natsu! I'm so glad you're alright. I was afraid the fall might've hurt you."

"Nah, I'm tougher than that," he said with a big grin, and then hopped off the rail and started walking towards her.

Lucy immediately flinched and waved her hands around, urgently whispering, "No, no, no! Stay on that side! If you cross in front of the doors, someone might see you!"

He halted and glanced at the doors he'd been about to walk in front of. With a huff, he stepped back and leaned against the rail.

"You should really leave, it's not safe for you to be here. If you're caught, you'll be thrown in prison... and possibly even executed."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

She blinked, wondering if he was stupider than she'd previously assumed, or if he just had an inflated ego. Or, maybe he thought that he could rely on his noble bloodline to save him… which it probably would if he could prove it. Even so, she couldn't imagine it being a good thing for him to get caught. At the very least, it would probably cause him a lot of trouble from his family.

"It's still a really bad idea for you to stay. If you can't prove that you're a noble, they'll definitely punish you harshly for trespassing. Which means _torture_… just in case you were wondering," she added with emphasis, trying to get it through his thick skull that he needed to skedaddle.

Once he agreed to go, she intended to ask him to keep her secret, but getting him to safety was her first priority.

Unfortunately, he didn't agree to leave. Instead he obstinately crossed his arms over his chest and a scowl settled on his face. His entire countenance read, "STUBBORN," and she abruptly knew he wouldn't give in without a fight. For some reason he really, really wanted to stay, and she suspected that convincing him otherwise would take more time than they currently had. So she changed her strategy.

"Okay, fine. If you're going to be stubborn about it, then do whatever you want. But _**please**_ stay out of sight."

"Sure. But I wanna talk to you afterwards."

"Alright, alright… I'll meet you in the eastern corner of the gardens after the ball is over." She waved her hand in the direction she was referring to. Though the gardens were currently swarming with soldiers, she knew there would be less guards after the ball had finished, and the corner she'd pointed out was generally unpatrolled.

Then she added, "Fair warning though, it might last late into the night."

"That's fine, I can wait if I have to. See ya later."

She nodded and he dropped out of sight again…. and not a moment too soon because the doors behind her promptly rattled.

She turned to face whoever had followed her out and plastered another fake smile across her face. "Oh, Baron Dashford! How nice to see you."

…

Just as she'd predicted, it really was much later when the ball finally finished up. It was at least eleven at night before all the nobles finally left, and she had to wait until the very last guest exited the castle before she could retire to her rooms.

However, she was in for another fight when she told Aquarius that she was going to go out again.

"Tonight?! It's way too late for that. What the hell are you thinking?" the blue-haired maid growled, obviously very ticked-off.

"You don't have to wait up for me…" Lucy timidly coerced, but that didn't seem to help much.

"I certainly damn well won't!" Aquarius barked back, and Lucy winced.

It was a fair offer, since the cranky woman often did wait up for Lucy to come back to her rooms safely – though the maid would never admit it was out of concern. She usually just played it off as being part of her job. This time though, it was obvious that Aquarius wasn't interested in staying up, and as soon as Lucy was stripped out of her fancy garments and corset, her maid left in a huff. Lucy just chuckled and shrugged, used to the older woman's moods by now.

It felt strange to put on one of her own dresses to go out in – the simplest one with a zip up the back – instead of her Lady Luck disguise, but dressing as Princess Lucy seemed like the safest option for tonight's trip. If the guards caught her, it would be easier to say that the princess was just taking a midnight stroll in the gardens… instead of having to explain why a gardener was skulking around the grounds for no apparent reason.

The trip out her window went smoothly, though it was more tedious to accomplish with her long dress. She also managed to dodge the leftover guards in the gardens… which was good. Even as the princess, she would much rather avoid being seen at all, because she didn't want her father to find out that she was out this late.

Actually, it was _**so**_ late that she wondered if Natsu would even still be waiting for her.

That concern turned out to be unjustified though, because as soon as she rounded the last hedge she immediately spotted him laying down on a bench with his hands stacked behind his head. One foot dangled off the end and the other was planted flat on the bench to cock his knee up… and overall, he looked amazingly comfortable for a trespasser.

Before she'd even announced her presence, his head turned and he spied her. With a broad grin, he shot into an upright sitting position and greeted her.

"Yo! Lucky! I was startin' to wonder if you'd forgotten."

She'd also been worried that this conversation would be awkward, but his happy greeting immediately set her at ease and she naturally responded with, "No, I just had to change."

"Yeah, that get-up had to be uncomfortable. You looked like ya couldn't breathe."

"You're right. I really couldn't," she replied with a chuckle.

"Why do ya have to wear shit like that anyways? I'm guessin' it's not your choice, right?"

"_That's_ for sure. I'd never wear corsets if I had a say in the matter…. But unfortunately my father has complete control over my wardrobe."

"Why?! You're pretty enough without those stupid things!"

She flushed, finding his off-handed compliment much more flattering than any of the flowery words she'd received tonight at the ball.

It took her a little throat clearing to pull herself together enough to reply. "He says it'll help me attract a husband."

Even while flustered, she still couldn't say that without tacking on a hefty eyeroll.

Natsu scowled. "Yeah, that's another thing I wanted to ask you about… is he seriously planning to just ship you off like that? I know you said he's gonna get remarried, but is he tryin' to get rid of you first or something?"

She sighed, feeling the familiar frustration weigh her down. "Yeah… it'll be easier for the new queen if I'm already gone by then."

Natsu's scowl deepened and he looked downright disgusted. "That's just not right. Your dad's a real piece of work."

"He's as good a father as he is a king."

Natsu snorted. "Which means he sucks all around."

"Yep. Pretty much," Lucy agreed with a sigh.

There was a long pause, during which Lucy gingerly walked over and sat next to Natsu on the bench. She was surprised the conversation had gone so smoothly up to this point, but it seemed like they'd hit a slight snag. There was so much to be said that it was hard to know what to address first.

Before she could decide what to tackle next, Natsu took the reins again and asked, "So… I guess you're looking forward to getting married and getting away from him, huh?"

Her head whipped around and her body followed, twisting to fully face him on the bench. "What?! No!"

Natsu turned to face her too, his knee resting on the bench between them so he could fully turn his body towards hers, and he fixed her with a confused look.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to get married to someone I don't like!"

"But outta all those guys, there's gotta be at least one or two ya like okay."

"Sure, there are a few who I wouldn't mind getting to know a little better. But I don't particularly _like_ any of them… they all come off as fake and judge me like a piece of property."

"They can't _all_ be like that," he pointed out, and she sighed, realizing he was probably right.

"I guess so… I mean, I'm pretty fake at those events too, so I guess it's not fair to judge them just from that. But unfortunately, that's the only kind of interaction I'll have with them, so there's no way to know what they're really like."

"Huh? But once you pick one, can't ya date him for a while to see if you like each other?"

"No… that's not the way it works. I won't get to pick one, the choice is entirely up to my father. I'll be lucky if he chooses someone that I find even somewhat pleasant… but it's possible I'll be stuck with someone I hate. It all depends on who can offer my father the better diplomatic deal."

"Diplomatic deal?! What the hell?! That sounds like he's selling you off to the highest bidder or some-_mph_…"

When his voice started to rise she quickly hushed him with an urgent whisper. "SHH! There aren't many guards around, but there are still a few! Don't shout!"

Her hand had reached out of its own accord as well and slapped over his mouth to muffle him. For a long moment she stayed still, listening for any sign that they'd been overheard. Thankfully, just the sounds of nighttime bugs met her ears, and after a while she sighed with relief.

"I guess nobody heard us… thank heavens."

"…so… can I talk now?" Natsu mumbled against her palm, leaning back a bit to reduce the pressure on his mouth so he could actually say something. He didn't lean back far though, and she could still feel his lips and hot breath against her skin as he spoke.

With a small '_eep_' she yanked her hand back, flushing hot and wondering just what in the world she'd been thinking to touch him so casually.

"Sorry! I was just scared your voice would attract attention!" she quietly yelped.

"Pfft. It's fine."

Thankfully he seemed unruffled by her touching him like that… which was amazing since everyone else she knew would've freaked out. It made her wonder just what sort of lifestyle he led to make him so insanely laid back.

She was saved yet again from having to figure out what to say after that by Natsu restarting the conversation.

"But seriously though, if that's the way it is, you should really get outta here and leave your old man behind. Nobody deserves getting hitched to someone they hate."

The thought of simply leaving was wonderful, but it only made her heart sink and her insides twist in an unpleasant way.

"You have no idea how much I would love to do just that… but unfortunately I can't."

"Why not? I know you're helping out your people, but you can't help them anymore anyways after you've been shipped off. At least if you leave, there's still a chance you can come back and help them again someday. Besides, they love ya, and I know they wouldn't want you to end up suffering like that. Hell, they'd probably even help ya get away if you asked for it."

"That's true… but there's no way I would be able to escape. My father's too powerful, and I'm sure he would catch me before I even crossed the border of our kingdom. And I _can't_ ask anyone for help. He wouldn't be able to do much to me, but anyone who helped me would be severely punished."

…

.

…

As for Natsu, he was just confused. As far as he knew, King Heartfilia wasn't really all that strong… except for his powers of assholeness.

So he asked, "Does your dad have really strong magic or something?"

"No, but he does command a large army and has several strong mages under his control. We also trade with the Kingdom of Saffron and Calluna, both of which are famous for making powerful magical weapons."

That was news to him, but it still didn't really impress him. Magical weapons were fine and all, but they were only as good as the soldiers who used them. What he was more interested in were those mages she mentioned.

"What kinda mages does he have?"

"Both of my maids are powerful mages, and I know for sure that he has at least one more. Zoldeo." She stopped to shiver and looked really disturbed for a second. "I'm pretty sure he's a dark mage… and I think he uses forbidden magic."

"Okay… the dark mage I get, but can he really use your own maids against you? Wouldn't they refuse to help him out?"

"Honestly, I don't even want to put them in that position. I know they wouldn't want to help him, but if he ordered them to do something, they wouldn't have a choice. At the very least, they would probably be thrown in jail for disobeying him… and there are much worse punishments than that."

"Well, crap. That's a problem, since you don't have any magic to fight back with. Right?"

"Actually… my mother was a celestial mage, and she passed her magic on to me before she died. But… I've been afraid to use it, because it reminds me too much of her."

He winced. It sounded like they had been really close… and he'd bet anything that she'd gotten all her good qualities from her mom. The queen must've been one hell of a lady.

Natsu wasn't really good when it came to dealing with sad stuff, so he just kept his trap shut.

After a long pause, Lucky sighed and said, "Anyways, all that aside, what are you doing here, Natsu?"

"You mentioned the ball and I got curious about it. I wanted to see it for myself."

The expression on her face made her look a little constipated or something, but he kept his laughter to himself for once because she quickly started to look mad too.

"One of these days your curiosity is going to get you put in prison! Or worse! If you snuck in here, I don't even _want_ to imagine all the mischief and trespassing you've done up till now. What is wrong with you?!"

She didn't raise her voice, and he was stunned by how much power she could pack into an angry whisper. It turned out that Princess Lucy could be pretty scary if she wanted to be. But she still wasn't as scary as Erza, so he was able to shake it off after a couple of seconds.

"Oh, you don't hafta worry about me. I'll be fine!"

"Where in the world do you get all your confidence from?! Hasn't that curiosity of yours gotten you into trouble before?!"

"Sure… but I always got away."

Her eye twitched, and he figured that wasn't a good sign.

"And obviously you haven't learned your lesson. You can't always count on being lucky…. Eventually you'll run out of it and end up in a situation you can't escape from."

He didn't really feel like explaining that 'luck' didn't have much to do with his grand escapes. So instead, he decided to tease her.

"That's funny coming from 'Lady Luck.'"

That didn't go over too well. For a minute there, he actually got a little worried that she might explode or something as her face got all red and her eyes flashed with amber fire. _Now_ she looked almost as scary as Erza, and he cringed away from her a little.

"Hrnnggggg, you… you… you… _idiot!_"

He was pretty impressed that she was still keeping her voice to a low growl when he could tell that she really wanted to yell at him. But he didn't have much time to wonder how she was doing it, because after a few huffs and puffs, she launched into a lecture.

"Can't you see I'm just trying to help?! The thought of you getting captured and thrown in a dungeon is unbearable. I've _seen_ the people that come out of there… I've even given them medicine afterwards, so I know what I'm talking about! You might get off with a flogging if you could pay some extremely steep fines, but otherwise you'd be in very, very deep trouble. And I don't want to see you hurt!"

The sight of her actually tearing up made his belly do all sorts of weird spasms and shit, and he immediately grabbed her face with both hands and started squeegeeing the waterworks away with his thumbs.

"Hey, don't cry… jeez, Lucky… come on…"

She froze when his hands cupped her face, and her eyes got all wide then squeezed shut as he thumbed her eyelashes. He didn't even notice how still she got, because he was so totally focused on wiping away her tears without jabbing her in the eye. But as soon as he was done with that, he realized that she was holding her breath for some weird reason.

"Um… you okay? You kinda need to breathe…"

Her eyes popped back open and she suddenly gasped like she hadn't even realized she'd been holding her breath. _Weirdo._

"Oh… I… um…" she stuttered, and he blinked a couple times in confusion.

"What's up with you? You're acting super weird."

"Th-that's… you… I… I'm not used to… being touched like this…" she finally got out.

His eyebrows crawled up his head and he glanced at his hands, which were still holding her face. It was kinda intimate he guessed, especially since he couldn't really picture himself doing it to anyone else… except for one other person. Since that other person was Lisanna, it sorta meant that what he was doing was a little more than friendly.

As soon as he realized that, he yanked his hands back and flushed, actually feeling a little embarrassed. That was a first, and he decided pretty quick that he didn't like it.

"Whoops… sorry about that."

She just stared at him all wide-eyed for a long time, and her hands covered her cheeks… but then, her eyes switched from shocked to amused and her lips twitched. A few 'pfft's later and she'd started laughing, though she kept it quiet.

"I guess this is a good opportunity for me to call _you_ 'weird' for once."

"Hey!" he sputtered and sulked a little – mostly for show. A minute later, he was laughing right along with her.

It didn't take him long to decide to forget about the little slipup. It'd just been a spur of the moment kinda thing, and he doubted anything like it would happen again. Besides, even if it did, it wasn't like it was that big of a deal. He hadn't kissed her or anything like that.

But even as he decided to forget it, something inside him was getting much, much stronger without him even realizing it.

…

.

…

After Lucy's giggling slowly tapered off, she sighed, realizing that there probably wasn't any use to scolding him further.

"Just please promise me you'll be careful, alright?"

"Sure thing…" he chuckled back.

"I guess that's as good as I can hope for…" she sighed, looking up at the stars and wondering just what she'd gotten herself into. Being involved with someone like him couldn't be good for her peace of mind, but she found herself unable to regret it.

Still, there was one last bit of business that needed to be tended to before everything was right between them.

"Natsu? Please don't tell anyone about my true identity. I don't want my people to know that 'Lady Luck' is really 'Princess Lucy.'"

"Why's that? Don't ya think they'd like to know their princess cares so much about them?"

"Maybe. But I can't help feeling like they'll see me differently if they know who I really am. My own father is the one causing them so much grief, and I doubt they'd be able to forgive me for that. I certainly wouldn't. Plus, even if my heritage was taken out of the equation, the fact remains that I'm still living in comfort while they're suffering."

After a short pause, Natsu softly said, "It doesn't sound like you're living all that comfortably, if you're beatin' yourself up so bad. And I'll bet the reason you're so skinny is because you can't eat while they're starving, am I right?"

She flinched, not sure if she should feel embarrassed about that fact.

Guilt ate at her until she admitted, "Partly. But I also did it on purpose to make myself as unattractive as possible."

"Why would you… oh."

She could hear rage in that one syllable and risked a glance at him, not sure if he was angry at her. His eyes were certainly blistering with fire, but she couldn't tell what it was directed at.

"Are you angry?"

"Of course I'm angry! I'm pissed as hell! What is _wrong_ with your dad anyways? Makin' you do crap like this just to avoid being married off…. He's fucking sick."

This was the first time she'd ever heard Natsu actually angry, and the sheer venom in his voice shocked her silly. She never would have even thought it was possible for him to get this mad if she hadn't seen it for herself.

In fact, it was _**so**_ intense that it might've actually scared her if that rage hadn't been directed at a very justified source. But as it was, seeing him so angry on her behalf did something funny to her insides, and she wondered if it was possible to feel like she was floating and melting at the same time… because that was the impression she got.

Attempting to brush off the odd feeling, she focused on their conversation instead.

"I agree. My father is deranged… which is why I can't stand being his daughter."

All that fire shifted towards her, and when he fixed her with a near-glare she froze still, unsure what she'd said wrong. His piercing grey eyes were almost pitch black with anger and pinned her in place like a piece of paper under a sharp tack.

Once again he reached for her, this time grabbing her upper arms and giving her a small, but surprisingly firm, shake.

"Stop that! Stop hating yourself for being related to the guy! You're a totally different person than him! You're kind and considerate and try to make everyone happy! You help _tons_ of people, and you're generous and thoughtful and nice and… all that good stuff! Just 'cause you're a princess doesn't mean that you're a bad person. Hell, bein' a princess is a _good_ thing, 'cause it gave ya all the money and stuff you needed to help everyone."

She could feel her eyes getting wider and wider with everything he said, and by the end she was tearing up again, much to her embarrassment.

Lucy had always been one of those people that could cry at the drop of a hat if she wanted to. Any kind of emotion could do it if she got overwhelmed enough… though she never really cried from fear or sadness anymore. She'd learned not to do that from a fairly young age, thanks to her father's intense disapproval. However, happy tears were another matter entirely, and she didn't really know how to stop them.

Eventually, she had to duck her head to hide the tears, and mumbled, "Please don't say such nice things…"

That only seemed to rile him up more though, and he gave her another little shake. "Why not?! 'Cause you don't think you deserve them?! Well you do!"

That warm melty feeling from before was growing by the second, and now it felt like a storm inside of her. It swelled up her chest into her throat until she was sure she'd choke on it.

"No… I mean… You're going to make me cry…"

"Huh?! Seriously?!"

"Yeah…" she said with a sniff.

"What the hell…? Jeez, don't cry. Come on… I'm sorry okay? Please don't cry, Lucy…"

At the sound of her name, she felt her heart spasm and her stomach flipped over entirely. Without deciding to, her eyes shot up to his and she caught sight of his tight eyebrows and the concerned look he was giving her.

"Did you just… call me Lucy?"

He blinked, still looking really worried, but now also slightly confused as well. "Well… yeah. That's your name, right?"

"Yes… but you hadn't used it yet…"

His eyes widened a little and then went back to normal as his eyebrows crunched even tighter together. "Um… do you not want me to call you that? I can keep calling you Lucky if you'd prefer…"

"No!" The denial came out a little sharply and he jumped back.

She felt his hands flinch on her shoulders, which made her extra aware of the fact that he was still touching her. At least there was cloth this time between his skin and hers, though it was still much more intimate than she was used to. '_And_ _why is his body temperature so ridiculously high?_'

"No…" she repeated more calmly. "I like the sound of it. I was just surprised. Though… you'll need to keep calling me 'Lucky' when there are other people around."

"But it's okay to call you Lucy when we're alone?"

She flushed and looked away again, wishing that she wasn't so easily flustered. It was ridiculous to start blushing just because they were talking about being alone… but most of her composure had flown out the window after his little speech.

At this point, it was definitely an uphill battle trying to stop herself from falling headfirst in love with him. She'd been worried that it would happen without her even realizing it – but instead, she was _very_ aware of slipping. The sensation was new and unfamiliar, but it couldn't be anything else… not with the vice grip around her heart and the heat flushing her from top to bottom.

Maybe he had a fever and had passed it on to her. That would certainly explain his inhuman heat and why she felt so flushed. Of course… that was probably just wishful thinking.

Even though she reminded herself over and over that there wasn't a happy ending waiting for her, she couldn't make herself stop the warmth and joy that was currently filling her up like a cup of hot chocolate. It made her feel giddy…. her heart pounded, her stomach fluttered, her skin prickled, and she honestly didn't quite know what to do with herself. Everything was all so wonderful and amazing and terrifying and strange that none of it made sense to her anymore.

How should she act in this situation? What should she do? What should she say? Her mind ran around in frantic circles, and she started to feel a little lightheaded on top of everything else. The air was growing strained and awkward, but she couldn't figure out how to break the silence.

Hesitantly, she raised one hand and lightly touched his wrist. At the same time, she murmured, "I… um…"

Before she knew what she was going to say, his hands were abruptly releasing her. He'd apparently assumed that she was asking him to let her go… and honestly she wasn't sure if that was true or not. All she knew was that her shoulders felt unpleasantly cold in the absence of his pressure and heat. Her fingers ghosted over the place wonderingly… wishing she knew what she was doing.

"Woah… sorry. I don't know what's gotten into me," he chuckled awkwardly.

His words and tone drew her eyes back to his, and she looked searchingly to try and find something that would tell her what to do. She wasn't entirely sure _what_ she was looking for… maybe a hint of how he felt about her?

He definitely looked flustered and was even blushing a little – though it was hard to tell in the dim lighting – but that could simply be from embarrassment. His wide eyes suggested shock, and when he frowned and glared down at his hands, she suspected either frustration or confusion. The way he was biting his lip also made her think he was conflicted somehow.

All in all, there wasn't anything definitive to tell her if he was feeling any of the things she was. Though, even if there _was_ a conclusive sign that he was falling for her, she still wouldn't know what to do about it.

In a way, she was glad she couldn't tell, and relief made one wire around her heart relax a little… but another wrapped even tighter. She wasn't sure if the butterflies in her stomach were happy sensations, or if they were the precursors to nausea. Right now, if someone asked her for directions, she probably wouldn't even be able to tell them which way was the sky.

With a deep sigh, she closed her eyes and hung her head, giving up on trying to make sense of the mess inside her skull and chest. Maybe some sleep would help her get more organized….

It was worth a shot anyways.

"I think I need to go to bed… my head is getting very fuzzy and confused," she finally confessed quietly.

"Yeah… mine too, I think."

There was that uncomfortable chuckle again, and she glanced back up, wondering if it was significant. Another sigh escaped her when she realized that it was another dead end disguised as a complicated headache. Really, it was probably best for her to just stop overthinking this whole thing.

"Okay then, shall we call it a night?"

"Yeah… but can I see ya again tomorrow?"

Just that one simple question made her insides start fighting each other again. She swallowed her heart back down her throat and kept it in place with her palm.

"I would like that a lot."

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_"Damn it… why couldn't I see it sooner? I'm such an idiot…" he cussed, groaning and grinding his palms against his eyes to stop himself from crying. _

_It was so obvious now, and he couldn't believe it hadn't ever occurred to him before. Was he just a complete dumbass? He knew that he would never love her the way she loved him, and it wasn't fair to her to continue the way they were. She deserved to be loved back. _

_He had to make a clean cut, and hopefully she would eventually be able to move on and find someone new to love. He also desperately hoped that they could stay friends, but maybe that was too selfish of him. After all, he wasn't the one whose heart was gonna be broken by all this, and he figured that he'd better prepare himself for her not wanting anything to do with him afterwards._

* * *

Uh, oh, looks like there's trouble in paradise. Anyone wanna venture a guess about what's going to happen? I might hand out hints. ;D


	7. CH 7: Light Bulbs, Graves, and Bars

**Author's Note:**

Hello all! It's Sunday! And you all know what that means... a new chapter!

As always, HUGE thanks to all my fantastic reviewers! Big hugs and kisses to: FireShifter, Starstruck-MJ, AshleighLeeann17, valerioux, TheCoolestKidinMagnolia, Theirry, stranger1999, Lovetoreadff, ABT4Life, NarukoSon, sakshishetty3003, Catleana, savwafair, and Mihiwera! You guys are all amazing. :D

Without further ado, let's get to the story then, shall we? And stay tuned for the sneak peek at the bottom of course. ;D

* * *

Natsu lay awake for a long time that night, staring up at the ceiling of his inn room and wondering what the hell had happened.

He wasn't exactly a stranger to powerful emotions; he'd dealt with his fair share of intense shit. Getting all fired up was sorta his thing, and he had plenty of experience with anger and sadness and loneliness and happiness and everything else he could imagine… or at least he'd thought he had. But this new mix of feelings was stumping him. The emotions still banging around inside him were totally new and strange, and he knew he'd never felt anything like it before.

The ball had been torture, he'd hated watching her in pain and being unable to do anything about it. It'd been nearly impossible to keep himself from busting in there and breaking some noses and teeth. It was a freakin' miracle that he hadn't.

But that had been nothing compared to the rage he'd felt later on in the garden when she told him what she'd been dealing with. He had known her father was cruel, but he never would've thought the guy could be such an ass to his own daughter.

Boy had he been wrong. The man was evil, pure and simple…

Natsu couldn't wait to shove his foot up the king's ass, but that would have to wait until Lucy was safe. His normal MO was to dive in headfirst without thinking, but this time he actually had to be smart about things. He really didn't wanna scare Lucy or get her hurt accidentally, so his first priority had to be getting her out of here… _before_ her dad shipped her off with some random guy.

The sooner the better as far as he was concerned, because he couldn't get her away from that jerk fast enough. She'd been dealing with His Royal Assness way too long as it was, and it was obviously having a really bad effect on her.

He hated that she blamed herself for everything her dad had done. She seemed to think that just being related to the guy made her equally terrible or something… which was so stupid he wanted to pick her up and shake her. Actually, that's pretty much what he'd done to her, though he had been gentle about it.

Weirdly though, as far as he could tell, it'd looked like what he'd _said_ affected her a lot more than shaking her… like she wasn't used to hearing what a wonderful person she was or something. She got plenty of praise as 'Lady Luck,' so he knew she could take it, but maybe she couldn't handle it when she was 'Lucy' for some reason. She'd seemed awfully freaked out.

Seeing her cry had made him feel even more crazy things. It hurt so damn bad to see her cry like that… as badly as it would've hurt to see his closest friends cry. He couldn't believe just how much he liked her already. In just a couple of weeks, she'd shot right up to the top of his friend list – which was pretty insane. He made friends easily, but he rarely got this close to them and it'd never happened this fast.

And the craziness didn't even end there….

He'd actually been _jealous_ for the first time in his life – because that's what he finally decided those hot, angry, dangerous feelings were when he watched all those other men dancing with her at the ball. Then, he felt it again later when she talked about getting married.

Now, as far as he knew, somebody usually had to want something to get jealous about someone else having it… which meant that he wanted Lucy. If all the other stuff hadn't happened, he could've played it off as something else, but there was no denying it when he added everything together. Sure, he was a pretty touchy-feely guy, but he didn't go around caressing people's faces for crying out loud. And that wasn't even considering how he'd _wanted_ to touch her.

He had wanted to grab her and hold her in a hug that was definitely way more than friendly. And if that hadn't clued him in, he'd also wanted to **KISS** her… especially when she looked at him with those big brown eyes of hers like she'd wanted him to. The urge had been nearly unbearable, and he still didn't know how he'd kept himself from doing it.

His chest had hurt and felt tight and warm and full like he had something huge inside that hadn't ever been there before. Everything that he felt was indescribable really, and he still didn't know what to make of it. The only explanation that really covered the enormity of what he was experiencing was that he'd fallen in love with her.

He loved Lucy Heartfilia… plain and simple.

Which would've been great, except it also meant that he'd been totally wrong about what he felt for Lisanna.

They had been an actual couple for almost a year now he guessed, though they'd been sorta together much longer than that. He had thought he was in love with her… but now he was wondering how the heck he'd ever gotten so mixed up. In all the years he'd known Lisanna, he had never once felt the things that Lucy made him feel. If he had to take a wild guess with what he knew now, he'd say that what he felt for Lisanna was just a really, really deep friendship topped by a small crush. He did love her, and he loved her less platonically than his other friends, but it wasn't enough to be called romantic love… not by a long shot.

At least that helped explain why he always felt so awkward when it came to getting physical with her… which was kinda relieving actually. He'd started to think that maybe something was wrong with him, because he could never really get into kissing or touching her. Before they'd officially become a couple, he'd enjoyed holding her hand and cuddling with her… but once they crossed that line, it had all felt kinda strange and uncomfortable.

She'd been the one to ask him out, and after they started dating she was always the one to initiate any kind of touching that wasn't just friendly. He'd given it a try, especially at first, hoping that maybe he would just get used to it… but if anything, it only felt weirder the more they did it. In fact, it was so uncomfortable that it was tough for him to get excited whenever they did stuff… and that only made things more awkward. There was no way she hadn't noticed his disinterest, since that kinda thing was pretty obvious in a guy, and then he had to deal with her getting all disappointed and stuff.

Those were plenty of reasons to avoid it as far as he was concerned, and he'd started taking more and more missions to get away from the situation.

Even without Lucy, it had only been a matter of time before he would've realized how hopeless the whole thing with Lisanna was. Eventually he would have figured out that he couldn't fix what was wrong with him and he would have called it off, but he was glad that something had woken him up sooner rather than later. It had already been going on too long as it was.

His heart clenched at the thought of what he'd have to do when he got home. He might not love her the way he thought he did, but he still did love Lisanna. She was one of his oldest and dearest friends, and he was not looking forward to breaking her heart. Because, even though he didn't love her like that, he knew good and well that she did.

"Damn it… why couldn't I see it sooner? I'm such an idiot…" he cussed, groaning and grinding his palms against his eyes to stop himself from crying.

It was so obvious now, and he couldn't believe it hadn't ever occurred to him before. She'd always wanted him differently, loved him differently, and liked him differently than he liked her… how had he missed it? How could he be so blind? Was he just a complete dumbass?

The answer was in their history of course. Back when they were kids, he suspected that he did actually have a pretty strong crush on her. It just hadn't ever developed into anything more than that… the way hers had. Maybe that was because they'd changed by the time they met again. They had both gone through a lot of shit while they were separated, and maybe their experiences just affected them differently. Or, it was possible that she'd just always liked him more romantically than he liked her.

But whatever the case, he knew that he would never love her the way she loved him, and it wasn't fair to her to continue the way they were. She deserved to be loved back.

He had to make a clean cut, and hopefully she would eventually be able to move on and find someone new to love. He also desperately hoped that they could stay friends, but maybe that was too selfish of him. After all, he wasn't the one whose heart was gonna be broken by all this, and he figured that he'd better prepare himself for Lisanna not wanting anything to do with him afterwards.

It was all so frickin' depressing…

He really wanted to head home and fix this whole mess ASAP… but he couldn't. He couldn't leave Lucy with all the crap going on here. Even though she hadn't said her father would be marrying her off anytime soon… he couldn't help but feel urgent about getting her out of here pronto. He had to convince her to run away with him, and then he could take her with him back home.

Of course, he wouldn't do anything to betray Lisanna more than he already had. Until he called it quits between them, he wouldn't tell Lucy how he felt about her... that was the least he could do after the shit he'd pulled.

…

.

…

Natsu wasn't the only one to have a very restless night… Lucy also spent the rest of the dark hours tossing and turning in her bed.

By the time dawn rolled around, she was still convinced that she was falling for Natsu despite arguing with herself about it all night. Now the only question was what should she do next?

That question continued to plague her mind for the rest of the morning, and eventually it drove her to visit a very special part of the castle grounds. Breakfast had been somewhat rushed, since her father was setting off on another 'political trip' – which she knew was code for 'wife shopping.' So, at least he was out of her hair for the time being.

That allowed her to go about her own business without as much worry, and she skipped her morning lessons to visit a particular marble mausoleum in the royal cemetery instead. Inside was a small room, bare aside from a short angel-topped obelisk that rose up from the center of the marble floor. Layla Heartfilia had been buried in the ground before the floor was laid, so there was no stone casket. Personally, Lucy preferred not having a human sized box to remind her of the physical remains… it allowed the space to feel more removed from the reality of it.

Once inside the threshold, she stopped and took a deep breath. She'd visited her mother's grave periodically since her death, but it was still incredibly painful to look at the name carved in stone. However, it was also one of the few places around the castle that she felt at peace. Talking to her mom had always helped her figure out what to do whenever she felt trapped in her own thoughts, and that hadn't changed even after her death. Lucy visited this place whenever she couldn't sort through something on her own, and she always left feeling much more collected and with an answer.

After taking a moment to collect herself, Lucy walked the short distance to her mother's memorial stone and knelt in front of it. She'd brought a few flowers she picked from the garden on the way here, and gently placed them on the marble floor between her and the stone.

"Hi Mom… the autumn flowers are blossoming, so I brought you some. I know how much you love the chrysanthemums and pansies…"

As usual, it was odd to hear her voice speaking into the silence and getting no audible reply. Normally she wrote letters instead, and often brought them with her when she visited. Today she'd brought ten new ones, and gently laid them next to the flowers on the ground.

"I've also written you a bunch…"

She trailed off and sat back a little, smiling down wistfully at her knees. Really, it was silly to treat her mother like she was still alive. Lucy knew that Layla Heartfilia's spirit was always with her and watching over her, so she didn't need to bring the letters here. Her mom already knew what was in them. But somehow it still felt normal and good to do it this way.

Actually visiting and speaking out loud was always a little strange, and it took a little time for her to warm up to it every time she came.

Clearing her throat awkwardly, she felt the pressing silence acutely, and wondered where to start.

"So anyways… um… as you probably already know, I've met someone really special. He's a traveler passing through our kingdom. It's… really hard to describe him to be honest, but I think you would like him. He's very kind, and funny, and honest… and _dimwitted_ from time to time. Can you believe that he snuck into the gardens during Father's last ball? I told him it was dangerous, but he wouldn't leave!"

She could feel herself getting worked up and took a deep breath to reduce her stress.

"But I can't stay mad at him for long, no matter what I do."

With another sigh, she looked up at the arched ceiling. "I don't know what to do, Mom… I think I'm falling in love with him. Maybe I've already fallen… My chest gets tight every time I think about him, and last night… he touched my face and said the nicest things. I thought I was going to explode… all my emotions got too large to contain. And now… I'm at a loss. What should I do? I know it won't last… either he'll continue his travels, or Father will marry me off and I'll be forced to leave. Is momentarily being happy worth the eventual pain? Should I bury my feelings? Or should I go for it? I'm so confused…"

By the time she was done, she found herself welling up with tears once again and lightly dabbed them away with her handkerchief.

Eventually the flow turned sluggish and finally stopped… she never cried long when she was visiting her mom. However, whenever she did happen to cry here, she was able to do it without any embarrassment or shame, and it always gave her a pure emotional release that she couldn't get anywhere else. This time, it also helped to calm the chaos in her head, and she was able to think a little more logically.

"What should I do…?" she whispered again into the silence, waiting for the answer to come to her. "If I pursue this… I know it will end probably sooner rather than later… but…"

The truth was, she wanted to continue being with him as long as possible, until one of them left. The only remaining question was whether she should tell him her feelings, or if she should just continue having him as a friend until the end.

With a sigh, she wondered aloud, "Would having a temporary relationship with him be so bad? This might be my only chance to experience love…. so, is it worth passing up just to avoid the consequences? Or will it just make things even harder when I eventually marry someone I don't love? Would it be better to not know what I'm missing?"

The sadness that swamped her was overwhelming as she seriously considered her options. It was mainly preemptive grief from knowing that whatever she chose, eventually they would be separated. There was probably nothing she could do to prevent that inevitability, so she tried not to think about it and just focused on the question at hand.

The longer and harder she thought about it, the more she came to realize that she really did want to tell him how she felt. She wanted a chance to have something more with him, as long as it didn't ruin what they already had – but something told her that Natsu wasn't the kind of man who would make a big deal out of a confession if he didn't return those feelings. She could almost picture him casually saying something like, 'Thanks! I don't really like ya like _that_, but I still think you're an awesome friend. Wanna go get something to eat? I'm starving.'

The mental image made her snort. If she did tell him her feelings and he didn't return them, she would be okay with just being friends. At the end of the day when everything was said and done, the fact remained that he made her happy. Happier than she'd been in a very long time.

"I don't think I'm confident enough to tell him my feelings yet… but maybe someday soon…" she pondered out loud, taking stock. That felt right, and she nodded in satisfaction.

"Maybe… I should just enjoy the time that I do have with him and let whatever happens, happen. If a time comes when I feel it's right to tell him, maybe I will. What do you think, Mom?"

A wave of warmth and relief passed over her, telling her that the answer she'd come to was the right one. Unfortunately, all of her choices at the moment had the potential to cause a lot of pain, but she had no idea which would cause the most. So, as far as she could tell, the best thing to do was to just live in the moment and enjoy it to the fullest… or at least that was how she interpreted the ease that took over her mind.

As usual, bringing her problem to this place had resulted in the peace that she needed to resolve it, and she couldn't help but feel like her mother was watching over her, giving her a guiding hand from the beyond.

With a sigh that felt like it came from the depths of her soul, she let the rest of her tension go. "Thanks, Mom. I feel much better… I'm a lot less confused and afraid now that I've made my decision. For just this once, I'll let myself be happy and deal with the consequences as they come."

More peace and happiness flooded her, which she took as support and agreement from the other side.

After a while longer, she rose from her knees and gathered up her letters – but left the flowers.

As she took a few steps back, she eyed the memorial and said, "I'll visit again soon…. Love you, Mom."

The last bit was a little hard to get out through her suddenly tight throat and she quickly turned and hurried out of the mausoleum before tears could start up again. Once outside, she immediately tipped her face up towards the sun and closed her eyes, letting the warmth dry any amount of moisture there. It felt very soothing, and she forced herself to simply focus on that sensation for at least a minute to help calm her emotions.

How one place could hold so much peace and so much grief at one time would forever flummox her.

…

What she hadn't expected was how strange and awkward she would now feel around Natsu.

That evening when she left the castle, he startled her by bouncing out of her peripheral – as usual – and she nearly capsized her cart and winced as her wrist twisted with pain. She usually wasn't so easily scared, but there was just something about him that kept her on her toes. Maybe it was because he always _**ran**_ at her, and she still wasn't used to that.

He barked, "Crap!" and thankfully hurried to grab the teetering cart.

With his help, the cart was straightened, and luckily her wrist didn't seem to have sustained any further damage, though it throbbed angrily at her for overtaxing it.

She leaned against the handle with a relieved sigh and huffed, "You really _have_ to stop jumping out at me like that, Natsu…"

"I didn't jump out at you! I came from all the way over there!" he protested, jerking his thumb at the nearby wall. "You're just always super jumpy and nervous is all."

"I am not!"

"Are too!" he retorted with a big grin, obviously enjoying the banter.

It _was_ pretty ridiculous, and she chuckled a little as she countered, "Am not!"

"Are too!"

This went on for a little while, until Lucy felt like it had gotten too silly and blew it all off with a huff. Unfortunately, that let a curtain of thick silence fall between them, and she abruptly became flustered. The memories of last night and her new decision this morning floated behind her eyes and she found herself flushing and glancing away.

Clearing her throat a little, she said, "We should probably get going."

"Great! Lead the way!"

There was something new about the big smile he sent her, a hint of awkwardness that made her wonder if he was also remembering last night… which made her hope that he was feeling some of the same things as her. After a moment, she had to look away from his smile though, because she discovered that if she stared at him too long it made her heart pound uncomfortably fast.

Without saying a word, she handed over the cart to Natsu as he reached for it, and their fingers brushed on the wooden handle. It felt as though heat had shot through the point of contact and she abruptly flushed and jerked back a little too quickly.

"Okay then! Thanks for wheeling the cart for me again…" she tittered a little awkwardly, before turning and walking towards the first noble house on her route today.

On the way, she wondered how she was going to get used to this new nervous energy that seemed to have taken her over when she was around Natsu. She felt giddy and jittery… happy and flushed, and yet anxious and uncomfortable at the same time. It was the oddest mixture of emotion she had ever experienced.

Perhaps realizing her feelings had created more problems that she'd anticipated.

She wasn't sure how to act around him now with the new sensation filling her up, so she did her best to avoid looking at him and put all her attention into the job at hand… which was gathering food for today's donation. At least while she did her work, she was able to focus on things other than Natsu and how his presence now affected her.

Unfortunately, that meant that the trip back and forth between the noble houses was awkward and silent, and Lucy desperately wished she knew how to disperse the uncomfortable atmosphere. The only way to do that though, was for her to get used to all the new things going on inside her, and that was just going to take some time.

Thankfully it didn't take her too long to grow accustomed to how her heart pounded around him and the warm excitable energy that built up in her chest and stomach. By the time they were in the common district handing out food on their way to Crazy Eights, she was already handling that fairly well. But what she _couldn't_ seem to get used to was how sudden sensations and emotions would unexpectedly attack her without warning.

It was always triggered by something totally random… like when he sent her a particularly large smile… or when he said certain things… or if they accidentally touched in some way. Simple things like noticing that his eyelashes were very dark and thick would send her stomach into a roll that made her feel like she was falling off a cliff.

He left her as usual when they arrived at the place she planned to set up her cart, but she noticed that he didn't leave the establishment. He hung out at the bar mostly, chatting to the bartender and stuffing his face with food, but she caught him looking at her plenty too. Something about the way he watched her from across the room was both unnerving and exciting, and it only made her more flustered.

She tried to ignore him to the best of her ability though, because there were already too many questions and rumors flying around – as usual – and blushing was not helping her case. His staring didn't help either, because more than one other person noticed as well and commented on it. By now everyone knew about him, and they all were absolutely convinced that there was something going on between them, no matter how often she denied it. Of course, it was harder to deny today, since she had discovered that they were partially right at least.

By the time she finished handing out all the food later that evening, she wasn't sure if she was more excited or nervous to be alone with Natsu. It didn't help that Crazy Eights was where they'd first met and apparently where Natsu was staying. Something about that felt significant somehow, like an anniversary almost, but she tried to put it out of her mind.

Once the last of her 'customers' left, Lucy headed towards the bar out of habit and sat down on a stool next to Natsu. She greeted June with a smile as the other women dealt with several patrons at the end of the bar opposite to them, and then she turned to Natsu.

"Yo. Looks like it went well," he said with a smile as greeting.

She agreed with her own smile, though she knew it was a little wobbly. "Yeah, it went great!"

Unfortunately she overcompensated for the awkwardness she was feeling by increasing her enthusiasm, and her response came out too loud and perky to sound normal. A blush took over her face and she immediately ducked her head to try and hide it.

Tense silence took over for a moment between them, but then Natsu broke it so casually that Lucy wondered if he'd felt it at all.

"Hey, Lucky… I've been wonderin' something. Why do ya visit these bars after handing out food? I've never seen you drink any kinda alcohol…are ya seventeen or something?"

Lucy jumped a little when he spoke to her and then cleared her throat uncomfortably, embarrassed for being so easily flustered.

"Oh, right… that's a good question. No, I'm eighteen, but I don't really like to drink. I do it because the bartenders usually know all the new gossip, so it's a good way to keep track of everything inside the city, as well as outside the kingdom."

"That's right! Never forget that we know everything," June said with a laugh as she came over to join them. "Speaking of, I hear you've been helping our Lady Luck out with her cart."

Natsu turned his smile on her and Lucy simultaneous felt relief and disappointment.

"Yep! I can't believe she was tryin' to push that cart with a hurt wrist. Lucky sure is weird."

A spark of irritation ignited in Lucy's stomach, and she felt herself sulk as June burst into surprised laughter.

After sputtering to a stop, the bartender managed to say, "You'd better be careful who you say that to. Someone might think you're being rude to our lady."

"Huh?"

June took one look at his totally bewildered expression and slid into a new fit of snickers while Lucy rolled her eyes.

"Calling her weird and talking about her so informally. That might offend some of her fans," June eventually clarified.

"Seriously? But being weird's not a bad thing… it just makes her more interesting and fun to be around."

Lucy abruptly blushed and had to look away, biting her lip and wondering if he had any idea what he was doing to her by saying such things. Probably not… he didn't seem like the most observant person in the world. June on the other hand… her profession required her to be both observant and well versed in human nature.

"Well now, it looks like you two have grown quite close…"

There was a teasing edge to her voice that told Lucy the bartender had probably seen her flustered response. When she risked a glance, the other woman was indeed sending her a taunting smirk, and Lucy grimaced.

With a chuckle, the pretty brunette turned her eyes back to Natsu and batted her eyelashes. "So, Hotstuff… can I get you another fire whiskey?"

"Sure!" he replied with another of his broad grins and June responded in kind, though her smile was more of a smirk.

Then she aimed that smirk towards Lucy and said, "I'll just give you two some alone time while I go get that."

A wink made the comment even less subtle and Lucy barely held back a groan of distress… but still ended up sending the other woman a baleful glare. That only seemed to amuse June more though, and she sauntered off with a chuckle.

Once she was gone, Lucy sighed, wishing that everyone would mind their own business.

An awkward silence fell over them once again as they waited for his drink, and it wasn't long before she could feel him staring at her. A quick glance showed that she was right, and she caught a glimpse of him frowning at her before she averted her gaze again.

When he leaned further to the side, resting heavily on the bar, she risked another peek but quickly looked away when she saw him intently staring at her… apparently trying to get her attention.

Clearing her throat and wishing her blush away, she said, "Yes? Was there something you wanted, Natsu?"

"Yeah… I wanna know why you're acting so weird."

She huffed. "You _always_ think that I'm acting weird."

"Yeah, but you're not your normal weird today. You're all quiet, and you won't look at me."

Apparently he wasn't completely oblivious, and her behavior hadn't slid past his notice like she'd hoped.

"Oh… well…"

There wasn't anything she could say to excuse her strange behavior, so she went with the next best option. "You're right. Sorry for acting strange."

He snorted. "I wasn't askin' for an apology, I just wanna know why you're doing it."

That stung a nerve, having heard something similar too many times from her father – though his version was usually closer to, 'I wasn't asking for your opinion.' Still, it triggered her and she abruptly stiffened, feeling anger bubbling up inside.

"There's nothing more to say! I have no explanation to give you," she snapped and glared at him.

He recoiled, his eyes widening and eyebrows shooting up as he leaned away from her. "Woah! Okay, okay! Jeez."

She had a second to be shocked at herself and regret her harsh response, but then he grinned and said, "Looks like you're back to normal anyways, so it doesn't matter."

"That… actually wasn't normal for me, so I'm not sure what you mean."

"Seems normal to me. You get pissed off at me plenty."

She snorted, finding it funny for some reason that he would state such a fact so casually. Now wasn't really the time or place to explain to him what was different though, so she decided to simply let the whole matter drop.

"True," she said shortly with a smile.

As she looked into his charcoal eyes, warmth built in her chest, but this time she didn't let it fluster her as much. With a puff of air, she glanced to the side but kept her body angled towards him. A chuckle escaped her as she suddenly realized that despite her new feelings for him, he was still the same person… and was just as ridiculous and irritating as before.

She found it weirdly soothing to discover that at least something hadn't changed between them – though it was awfully strange and funny to be comforted by anger of any kind.

Ironically, she also found her own amusement at the situation pretty comical as well. The whole thing snowballed and seemed stupider by the second, and soon her chuckles developed into deeper laughter that released a lot of the tension built up from last night.

"What's so funny?" Natsu eventually asked, chuckling in a way that sounded like he was both confused and amused by her sudden giggle fit.

"Oh nothing important… I was just laughing at myself for how silly I've acted today."

"Ha! That's an understatement."

She felt the slightest zip of irritation and huffed, giving him a play glare. "Hey! Don't agree so quickly or I might get offended."

That only made him snicker harder, and she had the sudden urge to swat him.

"Stop that!" she warned, fighting off her own laughter in an attempt to try and sound serious.

Again, he just seemed amused, so she grabbed a nearby bar napkin and smacked it against his chestnut head. "I said stop laughing!"

She almost couldn't remember why she was supposed to be mad at him for laughing when she also couldn't stop, but she held firm in her belief that he deserved to be swatted.

At the smack, he ducked his head and held up one arm to ward her off. "Oi!" he sputtered while continuing to laugh.

That wasn't good enough, so she proceeded to lay down a rain of swats with the napkin, mostly hitting his arm but occasionally managing to get him in the face or on the head. By this point they were both snickering helplessly, and she figured they probably made a very strange scene.

Eventually Natsu somehow managed to catch her wrist and grabbed it in a tight grip, preventing her from hitting him anymore.

"Gotcha!" he gloated, holding her wrist too high for her to do anything at all.

She struggled for a moment against his hold and then gave in, laughing breathlessly along with him. "Alright, alright… I give. You win this one."

He chuckled and lowered their hands, plucking the napkin out of her fist and tossing it to the other side of the bar. Thankfully it landed in an empty spot, so they didn't have to answer any questions about random flying napkins.

It took her a moment to realize he still hadn't released her wrist, but as soon as she _did_ notice it she flushed and lightly tugged on her arm. He immediately released it, his eyes widening ever so slightly. The laugh that escaped him actually sounded a little uncomfortable, and she could have sworn his cheeks were a little pinker than before – which made her hopeful again that she wasn't the only one experiencing these emotions.

Naturally that was when June showed back up with his drink, and she shot a smirk at them that said she'd seen at least some of what had happened.

"You two looked like you were having a lot of fun over here…"

Lucy decided that the best defense was a good joke, so she laughed and said, "Well you know how it goes, June… sometimes you just have to slap a guy with a napkin."

That got the bartender bursting into guffaws. "I hear ya there. You've gotta smack them around every now and then or they get too big for their britches. Of course… sometimes it works better to tie them up and teach them whose boss in bed…"

Natsu immediately choked on his drink and June waggled her eyebrows at them, which told Lucy that the bartender had just said something inappropriate. Personally, she had no idea what she was talking about…. Who would tie someone else up in bed? It sounded horrible and possibly illegal.

Giving the other woman the benefit of the doubt, Lucy asked, "Um… wouldn't it be difficult to sleep tied up though?"

Natsu had almost stopped choking by then, but he went into another fit of coughing brought on by laughter when she said that. June pursed her lips and looked equally amused.

"If you've got someone tied up in your bed, I can promise you won't be _sleeping_."

That still didn't make any sense.

"But why would anyone want someone tied up in their bed in the first place? That sounds so awkward and strange."

"Because it's kinky? You can do whatever you want to them, and they can't do anything about it."

June said that like it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Lucy blinked, wondering if she was just completely out of the loop here. She wracked her brain for what she might want to do to someone who couldn't fight back.

"Um… you mean like tickling them or something? But that seems a little sadistic…"

"Tickling could be fun for a while, but it's not the first thing I would think of. There are plenty of more fun things to do than that."

And once again Lucy felt like she was missing an important piece of information. She shot a glance at Natsu and mouthed, 'fun?' at him, hoping for a hint. All she got though was a friend who looked like he was about to die. His face was red and he was still laughing and coughing helplessly, which definitely told her that she was the butt of a joke somehow.

Looking back at June, she could feel her expression get unamused as she dryly stated, "The only fun things to do in bed that I can think of are sleep, read, and maybe talk to a friend."

By that point Natsu was finally gasping to a halt next to her and she sent him another look, this time slightly annoyed. She really didn't get what was so funny about any of this.

"Well obviously you don't have a boyfriend or girlfriend," June commented blandly.

Lucy assumed she meant a romantic partner and not just a friend who was a girl or a boy.

"No, I don't have anyone to cuddle with at night, but again, you can't cuddle with someone who's tied up. So I still don't understand that part."

By this point, June was looking at her in a way that was confused, amused, shocked, and a little pitying – which also came across when she said, "You must have led a very sheltered life if 'cuddling' is the only thing you think happens between two adults in bed."

That actually aggravated her more, and she huffed a low sound of irritation at the other woman. "Now you're just making fun of me…"

Then she turned to Natsu and complained, "Do _you_ know what she's talking about?"

…

.

…

Speaking of Natsu… he was totally stumped. What the hell was he supposed to do in this situation? He'd realized he loved Lucy, so talkin' about this kinda stuff wasn't exactly great for keeping his cool around her.

It was pretty amazing actually, how just talking about it with her there made him perv out. If he already felt like boiling over just from joking around, he couldn't even imagine what it'd be like to actually do anything with her. Scratch that… thinking those kinds of thoughts was too dangerous. He was already having enough trouble keeping his hands off Lucy as it was, he didn't need to make it worse.

He tried to ignore them and think about something else, but he couldn't seem to get away from the conversation… especially when he realized that Lucy was totally lost.

She was obviously clueless and had no idea what was goin' on. Actually, it was kinda funny how pissed she was getting over the whole thing. And cute. She was super cute too. It was sorta… _attractive_ that she didn't know jack all about it, and for some strange reason it made him wanna totally mess her up and show her all the stuff she'd been missing out on.

Aaa_aand_ that was his cue to try and think about other things again. It was hard as hell though, because he had absolutely zero experience holding himself back like this.

Natsu was a pretty simple guy, and he liked things that way. He wanted what he wanted, and anything that he didn't want he usually didn't waste time thinking about. He'd only started thinking about sex when he got together with Lisanna, and that was only because he wanted her to be happy, not because he actually wanted the sex. Before that, he'd never really cared about sex. Sure, sometimes something a girl did would turn him on or whatever, but he was a guy, so that just happened. But it wasn't like he ever sat down and said to himself, '_I really wanna have sex tonight_.' And he had too many hot girl friends to get in the habit of thinking, '_She's hot, I wanna fuck her_,' or anything like that. So it just didn't really occur to him.

Now, he was realizing that the reason he hadn't cared about it was 'cause he hadn't had anyone he _wanted_ like that. Which was DEFINITELY not the case anymore… every other thought that went through his mind starred Lucy, and he had a whole list of urges and wants that were firing him up.

And it sucked.

For once, Natsu had to actually force himself to calm the fuck down, and he tried doing all the stuff that he'd heard worked – like thinking about sad stuff.

Actually, that wasn't too hard to do when he gave it a shot. He could just think about _**why**_ Lucy didn't know anything, and he immediately chilled out a little.

He'd bet anything that it was her dad's doing. The douche probably thought that keeping her totally pure would make her easier to marry off – or something like that – which just made Natsu even more pissed at the guy. It was a real dick move to make Lucy learn something like that the hard way. Not to mention, she'd said that she might even be married to someone she hated, so that would _seriously _suck.

He was in the middle of thinking about that when she asked him what the bartender was talking about.

As usual, he didn't bother to think about what he was gonna say before saying it, so he just popped out with, "Uh… pretty sure she's talkin' about sex, Lucky."

It was only after he said the word 'sex' to her that he blushed and realized he probably should've kept his mouth shut. He wasn't embarrassed exactly, but it kinda turned him on again and he kicked himself for being stupid.

The bartender laughed and winked at him. "You shoot straight from the hip, don't ya?"

He shrugged, 'cause it was true. He'd never seen the point of talking circles around something.

Lucy still looked lost though, which he'd sorta expected… but it was still pretty crazy. He also didn't anticipate the lurch in his gut when she said, "Sex? What's that?"

Damnitall if that didn't give him an instant boner, and he groaned.

"Not gonna tell ya right now… maybe some other time. And YOU, talk about something else." He pointed at the bartender – didn't remember her name – and gave her a look.

She busted out laughing again and he rolled his eyes at her. This chick was as bad as Mira.

"Uh oh… do you have a little _**problem**_ now?"

Okay, so she was as bad as Cana too. He knew how to deal with someone like her.

"Yeah, and it's not super comfortable. So either shut it or get lost."

Lucy gasped, "Natsu! That's rude!" and he rolled his eyes again. It wasn't like he'd been super aggressive or anything.

"She knows I don't mean it like _that,_ and she's the one bein' rude."

"Yeah, yeah… I get it. Don't worry, Lady Luck, I'm not offended," the woman said, giving them both a wink and walking off.

For a while after that, Lucy kept scolding him, but eventually she let off. It took him a little longer to completely get his newly discovered sex-drive under control, but even that cooled off after a bit. And then it was just them again, chatting and joking around as usual and enjoying each other's company.

They did that for a couple hours, and then when she had to head home he pushed her cart for her all the way back up to the castle gate. He waited for her there as she apparently dropped it off in a garden shed somewhere and came back out.

"So why don't ya just go up to your room after dropping off your cart?" he asked.

She gestured at her clothes and he glanced down, still not seeing the problem. When his eyes popped back up to hers, she sighed and rolled her eyes.

"This is a gardener's outfit. People would ask questions if they saw a gardener waltzing through the castle halls at night to the princess's bedroom. I always sneak in and out of my bedroom window and through the gardens to avoid raising suspicion."

"Ohhh…. Hey, that's pretty clever," he praised, feeling impressed. Every day he realized she was a little smarter than he'd thought the day before.

"Thanks," she mumbled back, almost sounding embarrassed.

Then she cleared her throat and said, "Anyways… I'd better get going now or my maid will get angry."

"I thought you said it was your aunt that got mad at you?"

"Oh right, well… I don't have an aunt. That was back when you didn't know who I was, remember? I couldn't exactly say that I had a maid."

"Riiight… makes sense." He nodded along, then started laughing when he realized what she'd said. "So wait, you have a scary _maid_?"

She nodded very seriously. "Yes, she's pretty terrifying actually."

"Then why keep her around? That sounds like a bad maid to me…"

Even before she said anything, her soft smile told him that she really cared about this scary maid for some reason.

"Actually, she's almost family. She's stern and rude and bossy… but I know Aquarius is just looking out for me."

"Huh… that does sound kinda like a cranky aunt."

Lucy's smile got bigger and he felt his heart flop around like a stupid fish. "Yeah, that's exactly what she's like."

"Well… guess you better get going then like ya said."

She nodded and then flushed a little bit, which he thought was kinda odd.

"Goodnight, Natsu."

"Night, Lucy."

She blushed even harder and he sorta felt like it had to do with him saying her real name, but he wasn't sure. He definitely liked saying her real name more than Lucky… it felt nicer for some reason.

She waved goodbye and turned around to head back into the castle grounds.

Since he didn't want to lose sight of her right away, he snuck around the outside of the castle wall and quickly climbed over so he could hop into the gardens too. There weren't a lot of guards around, so it was easy to sneak by them as he hunted for her. Luckily he spotted her pretty quickly – which was good, 'cause the gardens were huge.

As he started following her, the random thought occurred to him that she'd probably call him a creeper if she found out he was stalking her like this, but that just made him snicker as he pictured her getting pissed. Not too pissed though… really angry Lucy was scary.

He didn't bother to worry about it or feel guilty, 'cause it wasn't like he was being a perv or anything. He just wanted to be with her as long as he could… and he also kinda wanted to see which room was hers so he could pay her a visit sometime.

He was amazed by how calmly she was walking through the gardens, like she owned the place… which she kinda did, but still. Of course, she'd done this a hundred times, so he guessed it was natural for her to be super chill about it. She didn't run into many guards, but there were a couple that saw her and she just nodded and smiled at them. They didn't pay any attention to her besides nodding back, like they were used to seeing her around.

Eventually she stopped when she reached the castle and looked around – probably to see if there were any guards nearby. There weren't. After a minute, she lobbed something over the railing of the balcony above her – which was impressive cause it was pretty high up there. Must've been on the top floor.

A few seconds later, a green-haired maid appeared at the balcony and dropped down a rope, which Lucy grabbed onto and climbed up crazy fast.

He really hadn't expected her to have that much upper body strength honestly, though he'd already realized she had to be in pretty good shape to push that cart around all day. From pushing it himself, he knew that it was surprisingly heavy and really hard to control with that one little wheel in the front. But he still hadn't expected to see her climb up a wall that was easily several stories tall like it was nothing.

Damn, this woman had more tricks up her sleeve than he'd ever thought possible. No wonder he fell in love with her…. he was starting to wonder why he hadn't done it even faster.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_She headed to her chambers with a bounce in her step and met Brandy with a smile at her door. Her smile dropped a little though when she noticed her maid's sour expression._

_"What's wrong?"_

_"Yeah… about that. I know you had plans and all, but your dad just sent word that he'll be getting home in an hour. He ordered that you get dressed for company." _

_Lucy's mood took a nosedive as her heart sunk into the soles of her feet. So much for having a nice evening._

* * *

Wuh-oh...looks like we've got trouble coming up next chapter!

Anybody wanna hazard a guess about what's going to happen?


	8. CH 8: Unwelcome Guest & Surprise Visitor

**Author's Note:**

Alrighty! It's Sunday! And you know what that means... purple kittens! Just kidding.

Anyways, as always, HUGE thanks to all my amazing reviewers out there! Big hugs and kisses to: stranger1999, savwafair, valerioux, sakshishetty, BeachBumBabe, Starstruck-MJ, AshleighLeeann17, Anna5949, ABT4Life, NarukoSon, Catleana, and FireShifter!

Now, before we get started, I've got a couple little side notes.

First: I've had someone express confusion about some of the modern word choices and other things, and I realized I might not have specified something. This is set in the same time period as the canon universe, people wear the same clothes, talk the same, etc... the only difference is that the kingdoms are smaller and Lucy is a Princess, so she has to wear fancy clothes and speak in a courtly manner. But it isn't set in a Renaissance-y time. ;D Hope that clears things up.

Second: Someone asked about how far Natsu went with Lisanna. I'm imagining all the way, or at least they tried a number of times, but maybe he wasn't able to really 'finish' if you know what I mean. He just wasn't super interested in her like that, so he couldn't really keep it up because it felt weird. (I've heard having sex with a best friend can be like that. If there isn't attraction involved, it's almost like having sex with a sibling in a way.)

Alrighty! Let's get this show on the road. And make sure to stay till the end for a sneak peek of next chapter. ;D

* * *

Lucy was jerked from her pleasant dreams featuring a certain chestnut-haired man by her maid shaking her awake.

"Get up Princess! You're sleeping in again!" Aquarius barked, flipping the covers off Lucy without ceremony.

She groaned and cringed at the sudden influx of cold air.

"Aquarius… please don't," she begged in an admittedly whiny tone.

"Don't you whine at me. Just because your father isn't home doesn't mean that you can sleep all day."

"I wasn't intending to sleep all day," Lucy huffed, squinting up at the blue-haired woman standing cross-armed next to the bed.

She was met with a glare that said Aquarius was in an especially foul mood. "Just so you know, I have plans with my _boyfriend_ this weekend, so don't test me. I'm on a time limit."

Lucy sat up quickly, knowing from experience that whenever Aquarius had plans with her boyfriend she was extra impatient and prone to temper tantrums. True to form, as soon as she was upright, Lucy found herself in the midst of a whirlwind of activity as Aquarius disrobed her, threw on her undergarments, and started lacing her into her dress in a matter of what felt like seconds.

Around the time that she was tying the last bow on Lucy's dress, a knock sounded on her bedroom door.

"Mistress?"

"You're late! I asked you to be here five minutes ago!" Aquarius snapped, stalking over to the door and yanking it open to show a quivering Brandish.

"I'm so sorry, Mistress… " the greenette whimpered.

"I'll punish you later, but right now I have a _date_ to get to. You're in charge of Lucy," the older woman huffed, and flounced out of the room with the sass she always got after talking about her boyfriend.

Typically, Lucy felt jealous and sour when Aquarius flaunted her relationship status, but today it stung a little more sharply than usual. She would give anything to be in a relationship… specifically with her new friend. Falling for Natsu had really highlighted just how much she'd been missing, and now she wanted it all.

For once, she was living in the moment, and every minute she spent with Natsu felt like a dream – sometimes a crazy and/or irritating dream, but a dream nonetheless.

It had been almost a week since she had finally realized her feelings for him, and the past five days had been amazing. Thanks to her father being gone, she could go into town and hang out with Natsu every day without worrying about being found out. She'd handed out food as usual on Wednesday, but Tuesday and Thursday had just been spent doing all sorts of random things around town with her chestnut-haired friend.

She was thoroughly enjoying getting to know him… the more she discovered, the more she wanted to know. Some of his traits had been obvious right off the bat after meeting him, but others had taken longer to suss out. Everything about him fascinated her, from his overall personality to the small quirks and mannerisms that she was beginning to pick up on, and she was quickly finding out that he was full of amusing contradictions.

On the one hand – as she'd known from the get-go – he was very caring, compassionate, warm, and open, and she had seen him easily make friends with random strangers. His smile was sunny and basically contagious in most cases, and he almost never got angry. The only times she had ever seen him actually mad were when there was some sort of injustice going on.

With all that in mind, it made sense that he was also very quick to offer his help to anyone in trouble.

Except, he was also remarkably unobservant… and nine times out of ten, he walked right by the trouble without even noticing it. If someone was _actually_ in danger, he saw it before anyone else – one time, she'd witnessed him yank a kid out from under a vehicle's wheels before the toddler could get squashed – but most chaos passed under his radar. There had been several instances where something crazy had happened and he hadn't batted an eyelash, while she'd been left with her jaw gaping.

In fact, more often than not, he either joined in on the chaos or was the cause of it to begin with. She had seen him pick more than one fight, but – as she had noted very early on – his temper in those situations was volcanic, fast, and practically friendly. It seemed to come more from an overabundance of energy than anything else… as if he just couldn't contain himself and _had_ to cause trouble.

It almost made sense that such a hyper being would also have the attention span of a gnat and a general lack of patience that was very nearly legendary.

However, she had also found that when something truly did capture his attention, he had an uncanny focus that was at times shocking. He was almost like a dog in that way… always wanting to play and getting bored easily – especially when left to his own devises – but put a ball or a bone in front of him and his eyes turned into sharp, clear lasers. Food was another thing she had seen him focus his entire attention on with a vengeance… until it was gone. He even ate like a dog, and she found herself hard-pressed to not judge his manners whenever they ate together.

Another strange quirk she had discovered about him was that he obviously didn't have a filter between his mouth and his brain – which was also a reason why he got into so many fights. From what she could tell, everything that passed through his mind exited his mouth with very little to no processing in between, and he was generally as blunt as a hammer with his word choices.

At first, she'd almost thought he was a little stupid because of that, but it hadn't taken her long to learn differently. It was that straight-forward, no bullshit attitude that made him so down to earth and matter-of-fact. He could cut through a problem and get to the heart of it within seconds… and sometimes she wondered if his way of seeing things was more direct somehow than hers. There had been times where he had summarized something in a few words that she had just spent half an hour trying to explain.

It occasionally made her wonder if she had a bad habit of overthinking things or of getting lost in thought. Like now for instance… and she came back to earth with a bang when she realized that she'd drifted off in her head thinking about Natsu.

"Oops, sorry about that, Brandy. I spaced out there for a second."

"Yeah… I noticed," the greenette answered dryly from her spot lazing on the couch. "You seem to be doing that a lot lately. I've been wondering if you found yourself a boyfriend in town or something…"

Lucy flushed and spun to face the door, which she started marching towards. "No! There's nothing like that going on."

She heard the maid get off the couch and start to follow her as she headed out the door, planning to go to the arboretum for breakfast. Since her father wasn't home, she didn't see the point of taking her morning meal in the huge empty dining hall.

"Sure… whatever you say. You totally haven't been hanging out with some guy named Natsu," Brandy drawled, sounding very unconvinced.

Lucy gasped and whipped around to face her. "How did you know?!"

"Uh… I live in town? The rumor mill has been busy."

"Oh… right. But it's not like that! We're just friends."

Brandy shrugged, obviously not caring. "That's fine."

Thankfully, she wasn't the kind of person who wasted energy trying to drag information out of someone, so Lucy could breathe a sigh of relief. Her feelings for Natsu were still too new and fresh to share with anyone just yet…. she wanted to baby them for a while.

So the trip to the arboretum was mostly quiet, and then they chatted about stupid inconsequential things over breakfast. Brandy joined her and Lucy thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to have a happy morning. It was yet another reason why she always looked forward to the days her father was gone.

After eating, she went to her etiquette lesson in a much better mood than normal – especially lately, seeing as it was usually after her music lessons. Being around such a carefree, happy, and spirited person as Natsu had somehow boosted her own confidence… to the point where she had actually told Mr. Aquila to shove it. Of course she hadn't actually said those words, but she _had_ told him that she wanted to wait until her wrist was healed before she resumed her violin lessons.

She knew good and well that she would pay for it later when her father found out, but right now she didn't regret it even a little bit. The break had really helped her wrist, and in just a week it had almost totally healed thanks to the magic-enhanced salves she'd been using.

Not being in pain definitely helped her grin and bear her etiquette lesson – though it was still very tedious and boring to fine-tune her skills in bowing, scraping, holding polite conversation, dining, sitting, standing, apologizing, thanking, gifting, corresponding, and every other random thing under the sun. It seemed like there was a proper way to do absolutely everything – from sneezing to putting on your shoes – and she was just waiting for her tutor to tell her how to go to the bathroom like a lady.

The lessons mostly consisted of hypothetical situations that her tutor gave her, and she had to give the appropriate response to said conditions. Sometimes the situations were acted out between her and him, and other times he relayed them to her in the form of a story or a question. It was all very long-winded, and some of the circumstances her tutor described were ridiculously complex and detailed. Thanks to his fondness for trick questions, she usually ended up with a headache trying to figure out what the politically correct thing was to do or say.

They also happened to be some of the longest tutoring sessions she had to attend, since they covered so much territory. So it was afternoon before she made it to her dance and literature lessons, and evening before she was finally done with them all.

By the time all her various tutoring sessions were complete, she was more than ready to head into town and see Natsu. They planned to have a rematch pool game after she handed out food, and she was looking forward to wiping the floor with him again. She headed to her chambers with a bounce in her step and met Brandy with a smile at her door.

Her smile dropped a little though when she noticed her maid's sour expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Yeah… about that. I know you had plans and all, but your dad just sent word that he'll be getting home in an hour. He ordered that you get dressed for company."

Lucy's mood took a nosedive as her heart sunk into the soles of her feet. So much for having a nice evening.

"Oh…" There wasn't anything else she could really say about it, and she didn't even try to hide the disappointment in her low tone.

Brandy grimaced and muttered, "Sorry… I know it's a huge pain in the ass."

Lucy just nodded and entered her chambers to get ready for the surprise visit. They quickly switched out her day gown for a much fancier one made of green silk that hugged her body like a glove down to her hips, where it puffed out and fell to her feet in a series of cascades. Her comfortable slippers were exchanged for a pair of heels, and she clasped a pearl choker around her neck as Brandy swept her hair up into an elegant updo. Matching earrings followed and she touched up her makeup with darker lines and bolder colors. The entire process was completed in silence, since Lucy was in no mood to talk.

Though it took some time, those minutes didn't do anything to reduce her disappointment or frustration. If anything, her mood just got worse as the hour mark approached, and by the time she was ready for whatever her father had planned, she was downright depressed and furious.

She dreaded meeting whoever accompanied her father. He'd only brought home one suitor before for a private consultation, and it hadn't been a good thing. That man had made a proposal for her hand the following week, and probably the only reason she hadn't ended up married to him was because her father had held out for a better offer and the proposal was dropped after she nearly slapped Prince Thornton.

So either this suitor was new, or else he didn't mind the fact that she'd almost assaulted someone. Neither option was promising, and she found her stomach knotting up with anxiety and aggravation as she made her way to the dining hall after being summoned.

She walked into a candlelit situation and attempted to swallow her nerves… but discovered that her mouth and throat were disturbingly dry.

"Ah, Lucy. It's good of you to join us so promptly," her father said from the head of the table, sounding as formal and stiff as usual.

Naturally his greeting was just an acknowledgement that she'd obeyed his summons, and she had to suppress a grimace.

"Yes, it's wonderful to see you again, Princess. And may I say that you look lovely this evening… as always," the other occupant at the table said smoothly, and she found her breath catching in a painful way in her chest.

The guest her father had brought home was King Eisenwald… one of the few suitors that actually intimidated her and someone she had hoped she'd never have to see again.

"I believe you know King Eisenwald? He attended the ball several weeks ago."

It took subtly clearing her throat a few times before she felt like she could speak without croaking. "Yes… we have met."

A sharp look from her father quickly made her remember the manners that had been beaten into her, and she hastily dipped into a curtsy. "It's a pleasure to see you, King Eisenwald. I hope you've been well?"

"Why thank you, Princess… I have indeed been quite well. Please, come join us."

He had stood when she arrived – unlike her father – and now gestured at the seat across from him. Seeing no other option, she gingerly stepped forwards and sat down as a servant pulled her chair out for her.

By this point, she was trying to swallow the anxiety and focus on her irritation instead to give her a confidence boost. That was a little difficult to do though when his dark eyes were piecing her from across the table, making her feel like a specimen pinned to the wall. His gaze sent shivers of discomfort across her skin and she wasn't able to hold his eyes for very long.

Just like the first time she met him, she recognized things that reminded her of her father… a certain cold calculation in his expression and a pleasant smile that she was sure hid fangs and a silver tongue. Her father was a businessman above everything else and he could sweettalk anyone out of anything – though he never used those skills on her. But she had seen it enough to recognize the pleasant mask on this man's face, and she knew that he was definitely capable of those things.

However, there were also things that were specific to King Eisenwald that scared her. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but something about him creeped her out… something in his eyes and voice and mannerisms didn't seem right. All her alarms were going off, and she just _knew_ he was bad news.

Many other suitors had disturbed or disgusted her, but he was the first who truly frightened her.

As the food was brought out, he broke the thick silence by saying, "I understand that I missed quite the performance. It's unfortunate I wasn't able to attend your last ball; it would have been a pleasure to hear you play."

"You flatter me, King Eisenwald… I'm merely an amateur," she responded with the fake humbleness that polite society required.

He chuckled. "There's no need to be so modest. I've heard that you play beautifully."

"You're too kind."

She could already see where this was going and flexed her hand, rotating her wrist a bit to test its flexibility. It was almost there, but there was still a good amount of stiffness and some leftover aching that suggested playing would be a bad idea. She really hoped that she didn't end up reinjuring herself.

"If you would like to hear her play, we can retire to the parlor after dinner," her father offered – as she'd known he would – and she felt cold anger chill her from the inside out.

Thinking quickly, she came up with a plan to make things more comfortable for her. It would definitely be difficult emotionally, but it was her best bet to keep from hurting herself again.

"To be honest, I'm more accomplished on the harp. The violin is still fairly new to me."

"You don't say? If that is the case, I would love to hear you play your best piece."

"Very well."

Some of the tension relaxed from her shoulders as she sighed with relief. The harp would be much easier on her wrist than the violin and was a lot less likely to reinjure her. Of course she still dreaded having to wake up painful memories and knew that playing the harp would make her very sad, but maybe it was time to finally move past that hurdle. She really did love it and missed playing.

None of that really helped her feel better about the situation though, and her aggravation continued to grow as she was forced to sit through the lengthy meal and make small talk with two people that she disliked so intensely. By the end of dinner, she'd decided that this whole setup could be used as a new inventive torture method, because she was pretty sure that she would tell anyone anything if it would let her leave.

Of course, even after dinner was finally over, she wasn't done with them. As her father had said, they ended up in the parlor and her harp was fetched by one of the servants.

By that point she was starting to have second thoughts about playing the harp in front of King Eisenwald…. It was personal to her, and the last thing she wanted to do was give him the satisfaction of seeing anything intimate. However, she had already committed to it and backing out now would only expose a weakness.

So, taking a deep breath, she sat on the plush stool placed behind the harp and ran her fingers over the strings, refamiliarizing herself with them. Putting her concerns out of her head for the moment, she focused on the instrument in front of her and thought about what kind of music she wanted to make. She refused to play any of the songs that were special to her at the very least, so that narrowed down the selection a lot and made it easy to choose.

As she let her fingers settle on the appropriate strings and started playing the first song that came to mind, she was pleased to see that it came back to her without much trouble.

The second song was normally accompanied with singing, but there was no way she was serenading either of the men listening to her right now, so she kept her lips shut – though it was a little difficult to resist singing along. Habit demanded that she complete the melody with her voice, but she ignored the urge and focused on her fingers.

Several other songs were like that as well, and she found herself quietly humming along to her favorites, but kept it at that. Surprisingly, it didn't actually trigger too much grief – probably because she was avoiding the sentimental songs – which was a huge relief.

…

After an hour or so of playing, her father brought the performance to a stop. As her last song was coming to an end, he stood – signaling that music time was over – and thanks to his unexpected movement, she fumbled the finishing cords.

He turned to King Eisenwald and aimed all his fake charm at the other royal. "Quite lovely isn't she?"

"Oh yes, indeed. She plays wonderfully," the white-haired king replied, also rising to his feet.

"It's a shame we don't have longer, but as the evening is growing late, perhaps you would care to adjourn to my office where we can discuss important matters?"

"Of course, we certainly have much to discuss."

"Indeed."

Lucy did not like the smiles they aimed at each other or the self-satisfied tones of their voices. Before they left the room, she rose and called, "Father? Shall I retire for the evening?"

He shot her a stern look over his shoulder. "Of course not, it would be rude to not see our guest off properly. Wait for our return here."

"Yes, Father," she gritted out, doing her best to keep her tone pleasant despite the icy hot anger flooding her veins.

As soon as they left, she allowed the fake smile to drop from her face and felt her eyebrows crunch into a nasty scowl. This was a new level of disregard for her as a person, and she found herself breathing deeply to try and contain the pent-up rage. There was only so much of this she could take, and she was quickly reaching her limits. Normally, she had longer to mentally prepare for this particular kind of socializing, but since tonight had been sprung on her at the last minute her tolerance was a lot smaller than usual.

With a deep sigh, she rested her forehead against the carved wood of her harp and gripped it with her fingers, hanging onto it as if the instrument could anchor her somehow.

With nothing else to do, she eventually found her fingers running over the strings, and before she knew what was happening several melodies that she had refused to play earlier automatically spilled out of her. These were her favorites, the songs she held closest to her heart… the ones she had played with her mother. With no one to hear, she also let her voice join in and wove the two sounds together to create the music she loved so deeply.

As she'd known it would, the familiar melodies made her heart clench up with grief, but what she hadn't expected was the rush of warmth that accompanied it. Somehow that soothed her enough that she kept from crying – which was good because the last thing she wanted was to have tear tracks down her face when the two kings returned.

She easily lost herself in the music as happy memories flooded her mind. It had been so long since she last played like this that she'd almost forgotten how much she loved it.

She was distracted though when she heard voices coming down the hall and immediately stopped her playing…. Not a moment too soon either, because a few seconds later her father and King Eisenwald walked back through the door.

"It sounds like you were holding out on us earlier, Princess. You have a beautiful voice."

She just barely managed to hold back a scowl at King Eisenwald's words. Instead, she pasted on her fake smile and forced her voice to remain pleasant. "Please forgive me, Your Highness. I must admit to being shy with singing in front of others."

"Of course," he responded with a grin that was way too smug.

Glancing between the two kings, she noticed that they both looked pleased… which didn't strike her as a good thing.

"Come, let us see King Eisenwald off. He has an early trip in the morning, and it wouldn't do to keep him too late."

She silently stood and walked with them to the door of the parlor, where King Eisenwald turned and held a hand out to her. Wishing she could just leave him hanging, she reluctantly placed her palm in his and then tried to keep her cringe invisible when he dipped and brushed his lips against the back of her hand.

"It was a pleasure, Princess. I hope we can see each other again soon."

"The pleasure was mine. Please have a safe trip," she replied, keeping her smile in place through sheer willpower as he held onto her hand a little too long.

His eyes lingered on her for too long as well, and his smile was possessive in a way that sent her stomach into unpleasant somersaults.

"Well then… goodbye for now," he finally said, and released her hand.

She yanked her hand back maybe a little too fast, but she could have sworn that his smile actually grew… as if her hesitance to touch him was amusing.

Then a servant led him away and he was finally gone. As soon as he was out of sight, Lucy felt her stomach unknot just a little… but then she strapped on her big-girl panties again and turned to her father to get to the bottom of this whole thing.

"May I ask what that was about?"

"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with."

He must have heard her teeth grind together – but if he did, he didn't acknowledge it.

"I know that man is one of my potential suitors, so I simply assumed his visit did concern me."

He shot her a look that said she was pressing her luck. "As I have said before, who you marry is not your business. This discussion is closed."

At that, he turned on his heel and stalked away, obviously aggravated with her and tired. She bit her lip to prevent herself from shouting after him and spun around to go to her own chambers, feeling as if her blood was boiling with ice. _'What's wrong with him?! I can't believe he won't even tell me if he's decided to marry me off or not! What the heck?!' _she thought sourly to herself as she stomped through the halls back to her room.

Making her wait an hour while he talked to King Eisenwald… forcing her to entertain at the last minute… not telling her what was happening… her father had really pushed all of her buttons this evening and she was ready to blow a fuse.

…

.

…

Meanwhile, Natsu couldn't wait any longer and started edging around the castle wall to the back.

When Lucy hadn't shown up, he'd gotten worried that something had happened and snuck into the castle grounds to look for her. It didn't take him long to realize that trying to find her wasn't a great idea though, because if she _did _come to meet him at the castle gate he would miss her, so he snuck back out and waited for her some more.

But when it started to get dark outside, he figured that she probably wasn't going to show up at all, so he snuck around the castle wall again and shimmied back up and over it.

There'd been a shitload of guards earlier, and they were still around when he went in for round two. He had to be extra ninja-like to avoid them all, but he didn't get as much joy from the game as usual because he was worried about Lucy and super ticked off from all the undoing, redoing, back, and forth crap.

After a while, the guards started clearing out a bit, and he had an easier time getting to the end of the gardens, which gave him a clear view of the castle and Lucy's room. Since it was so late, he figured he'd just wait for her there…. The only problem was the big space between the garden and the castle that he'd have to run across without any of the guards seeing him. That'd take some doing, so he sat and waited for a little while, watching the pattern of guards come and go. It grated to do this when he'd normally just run in there and knock them out or whatever, but he couldn't risk getting caught just so he could see Lucy tonight. So for once, he forced himself to think ahead and memorized the pattern of the guards so he could dash across the open ground between patrols.

It worked like a charm, and soon he was climbing up the outside of the castle and ducking onto her balcony. The outer wall was made of big slabs of rock and there were enough cracks that he could get up it pretty easy. Then, he hid behind a potted plant and waited, hoping she'd hurry up so he could ask where she'd been all day.

A couple minutes later, he heard a bunch of banging and inched over to her balcony doors to see what was going on. He got there right as Lucy stormed into her bedroom, looking super pissed. Her eyes practically spat fire, and he felt his eyebrows hitch up on his forehead as he wondered what the hell had happened to make her so freaking mad.

He almost opened the balcony door, but then her maid followed her into the bedroom and he ducked back behind the plant. Damn it all, why'd she have to be there? Why couldn't Lucy be alone?

At least he could still see Lucy through the leaves as he sulked, and he watched her huff and puff around the room. It looked like she was grumbling under her breath, but he couldn't make out what she was saying from all the way across the balcony.

When she got close to the glass doors, he could finally hear her a little more clearly and definitely made out, "Who the hell does he think he is? Of all the… I can't believe him!" And then she moved off and he couldn't hear her anymore, but guessed she was saying the same type of stuff.

He was curious about what'd happened, but he got distracted from that when her maid started taking down her hair and shit. It kinda looked like magic as the other woman pulled a million pins out of her hair and it dropped down her back in long blond pieces. The stuff was even longer than he'd thought, probably about the same as Wendy's or Erza's back home.

While she did that, Lucy was wiping off her makeup, and Natsu winced when he saw the super dark circles under her eyes and how pale her skin really was. She looked even sicker than he'd expected, but it didn't exactly surprise him all that much. Having to live with a scumball like her dad had to put a bunch of stress on her.

He got even more curious and interested when they started stripping her, because ever since the ball he'd wondered how the hell she got in and out of those fancy costumes.

It was crazy how many hooks and buttons it took to undo the thing that she was wearing right now, and to get it off the maid had to peel it down her body instead of pulling it over her head like a normal person. But that wasn't even the weirdest thing about her outfit, because what was under the dress was way worse. He was downright horrified when he saw the laced-up _thing_ strapped around her waist. That had to be her corset, but it seriously looked like a torture devise or some kinda straight jacket. It was so tight, he wondered if she was maybe missing a rib or two. How the hell did she even breathe at all?

He was also kinda shocked by just how skinny she was under that big puffy dress. It was mostly the things he hadn't seen before that upset him… like her bony chest and the outline of her stick thin legs through her slip. He was kinda shocked that she still had any padding at all in the boob and hip areas, 'cause aside from that, the only curves she had were muscles – which were really defined and easy to see since she was so insanely thin. He could tell her arms were rippling with it, thanks to all that cart pushing and wall climbing… but she should've had a lot more.

Even though he'd known she was skinny as hell, actually seeing it like that made him sick with worry. He couldn't wait to get her outta here and take her to eat some real food. Once she was away from this whole fucked up situation, he'd bet she would get back to eating a healthy amount.

While he was daydreaming about wolfing down big plates of food with her, he missed the fact that they'd taken her corset off and he ended up staring at her in just underwear. The thought that maybe he was being a pervert never crossed his mind, 'cause he was too busy being shocked by her ribs and jutting hipbones. Yeah… she really needed to eat. Like, asap.

When they went to take her bra off though, he flushed a little and glanced away, not feeling right about seeing her boobs. He didn't feel bad about looking up to that point – actually he hadn't even thought about it at all – 'cause he'd just been curious and worried, not turned on. But the boob thing was different.

He counted to one hundred in his head, and when he looked back he was happy to see that she was wearing a nightgown. It was kinda thin, but he just tried to keep his eyes off her chest and focused his attention on her maid. If he glared at her hard enough, maybe she'd go away so he could talk to Lucy.

When it finally looked like she was telling Lucy goodnight, excitement built up in his chest and he itched to throw open the balcony doors and bust in there. He somehow held out until the green-haired lady finally left, and then he quickly pounced on the door and rushed into her room.

"Damn, I thought she'd never leave!" he said happily, probably too loud.

She winced and spun around to face him. "What that… Who… Wait… Natsu?! What are you doing in here?!"

The shock on her face quickly turned to anger and he braced himself.

…

.

…

Natsu was right… Lucy _was_ extremely angry.

In fact, she hadn't calmed down at all from the rage her father had lit inside her, and unfortunately for Natsu, that anger was ready to boil over. He'd just provided the perfect excuse to let off some steam.

"Uh…. You didn't show, so I was worried something had happened…" he said, not seeming fazed at all by her outburst, which only made her madder.

"Something _did_ happen! But that doesn't mean you can just come barging into my room without asking! Just what do you think you're doing? Do you have any common sense? Who raised you!?"

When he only responded with a grin and shrugged, she felt a surprisingly strong urge for physical violence pop into being within her. The fantasy of kicking him across the room and back out onto the balcony passed through her head, but she tamped it back down… a little disturbed with herself.

It looked like she hadn't hidden the thought well enough though, because Natsu's eyebrows hitched upwards on his forehead.

When that was all he did, her anger meter bumped up a few more levels, and she felt a blood vessel start to pound in her forehead. A headache had already set up residence in her skull, and she narrowed her eyes against the pain, feeling it getting sharper by the second. Of course that only made her mood worse, and she made some kind of loud guttural sound that seemed to come from her chest.

"What is wrong with you?! Get out!"

Without thinking, her foot lashed out and she kicked the nearest object – which happened to be a chair. It clattered across the ground towards Natsu and actually reached him, since her kick had been stronger than she'd expected. Thankfully by the time it made contact, the chair had run out of so much momentum that it didn't seem to hit very hard. Still, she winced a little, wondering what had gotten into her.

She expected him to be horrified or angry with her, but he only raised his eyebrows a little higher and his eyes widened a smidge. Then he simply commented, "Wow, you really _are_ pissed, aren't ya?"

Her breath came in heavy gasps from the explosive outburst, and she suddenly felt exhausted. With a huff, she allowed her body to fold and dropped down onto a nearby chaise.

"Of course I'm mad… you don't barge into someone else's room without at least asking permission first," she sighed.

"You seemed mad before I even came in though…"

"Well, it's been a rough day," she grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest and fixing him with an exhausted and still slightly sour look. Then after a short pause she added, "Just what _are_ you doing here anyways?"

"Like I said, I was worried about ya. So what happened?"

"Huh. Where do I even start…" she wondered out loud, letting another sigh slip out.

She supposed she could still fuss at him for being in her bedroom, but she'd honestly stopped caring when her energy ran out. Now, his presence was changing into a more soothing one, despite her initial volcanic response.

"My father came home today… without much warning. And he brought a guest that he wanted me to dress up for and entertain." There was nothing she could do about the acidity of her tone towards the end of her statement, and he obviously picked up on it.

Natsu's posture stiffened and his eyes narrowed. "Was it one of the guys he's thinking about marryin' you off to?"

Lucy glanced away, cringing at the thought. "For sure. He came to a ball a couple weeks ago, and he didn't leave a very good impression. That man… scares me."

A sudden move from her peripheral vision startled her, and when her eyes shot back to Natsu she saw that he was leaning forward and tense, as though about to pounce. His eyes had sharpened even further, and she saw something there that she'd never seen before… something dangerous.

"Has he hurt you?"

The question was asked in a tone that matched his expression, and for a moment she wondered if there was a side to him that she hadn't come across yet.

"N-no… he hasn't. Actually, he stopped me from slapping someone… which would have been really bad. I should be thankful to him for that, but I can't help disliking him."

As soon as she said he hadn't hurt her, Natsu relaxed and that strange gleam left his eyes. Something in her stomach loosened up, and she breathed a little easier, thinking that she'd almost seen something she wasn't ready for yet. A strange uneasiness tried to settle over her like a layer of dust, but she brushed it off.

Clearing her throat, she distracted herself by saying, "Anyways… as I'm sure you can imagine, tonight was pretty unpleasant to say the least."

She curled her knees up to her chest as she leaned into the corner of the chaise, and her head flopped back against the arm. Her eyes drifted off to the side as she thought back on the day, and another wave of tiredness washed over her.

After sighing for what felt like the millionth time, she muttered, "And I hate being forced to dress up like some kind of doll… it's so objectifying."

…

.

…

The strength of his reaction to her story shocked Natsu, and he actually had to take a few deep breaths to chill out a bit.

She looked so tiny… so damn fragile… like she could break at any second. He hated it. This wasn't like the Lucy he knew and it all felt totally wrong.

She was obviously miserable, and the way she curled up and held herself like she was gonna fall apart made him wanna wrap around her like some kinda protective… something. He was so upset he couldn't even think straight anymore, and all he wanted to do was get her outta here and then kill all the bastards that had made her like this. Or at least beat them to a smoking bloody pulp.

Speaking of that, he realized he'd better get her on board with the plan.

Clearing his throat to make sure it didn't have any growl in it, he tried to keep his voice calm and normal as he said, "I've been thinkin'… I know a place where you could go. It's a safehouse for anyone who's on the run."

Her eyes zipped over to him quicker than he could blink, and a spark lit in them… but a second later they went all dull again.

"That's wonderful… but I'd still have to escape first. I've already told you there's no way I can do that…"

"Sure ya could. Just dress like Lady Luck, and when you go into town don't come back. I'd bet nobody'd even notice you were missing 'til the next morning… and by then you could be in the farmlands where they'd have a hell of a time finding you. And I'll help ya."

He heard a little popping sound come from her lips when her jaw dropped, and her eyes glazed over. She was obviously thinking hard about his suggestion, and her shocked face made it look like she'd never even considered it before. Which was dumb. It was super obvious to him, and he was sure that she was a hell of a lot smarter than him. Although, it was also plain as day that she was terrified of her old man, so all that fear had probably been gunking up her brain. It really made him wonder just what the bastard had done to make her so scared of him.

He would'a asked, but he was already mad enough as it was. Anymore and he'd pop.

"I… don't want to get you involved in my problems…" she eventually said, but it was pretty quiet and hesitant.

He could tell that he'd already got her and didn't even try to hide the shit-eating grin that slapped across his face. "Too bad. I'm already neck deep in it, and I'm gonna get you outta here. I'm just glad I don't have to tie you up to do it… that would'a been a real drag."

She shot him a glare that said she knew he was joking – though it wasn't _entirely_ a joke. If it'd come to that… he might've actually done it.

"That isn't funny."

He tried not to laugh at her scolding, but she looked so sour that he couldn't help it. There was something so damn funny and cute about her sulking, and he quickly had to dodge the fluffy pillow she threw at him. It smacked into the window with a glassy thud.

"So when're we getting outta here?"

She blinked at the question, as if she hadn't expected it. "I haven't even said yes yet!"

"You didn't have to."

He knew he was acting smug and didn't give a crap.

"… can you give me some time? I don't know if it's possible, but… you're right, I do want to say yes. Just… let me think about it for a little while."

The way she chewed on her lip was distracting, but it also told him that she was worried, so he backed off. Normally he wasn't too considerate of other people's feelings, but the image of her looking broken was pretty fresh in his mind and he couldn't stand the thought of making her look that way again.

"That's cool. Just let me know when you're ready."

She nodded and her eyes dropped to her toes, which were peeking out from that freakishly long nightgown of hers.

Speaking of the nightgown, he could pretty easily see her outline through it, and as soon as his attention shifted that way it was hard to reroute his brain. He'd been so busy with her attitude and everything that he hadn't even really thought about it, but now it was really freaking hard not to. His cheeks heated up uncomfortably, and he found his eyes sticking to her hip and the curve of her waist and what he could see of her legs and butt in the position she was in.

It took him a second to realize she was talking to him, but when he did notice, he jerked his eyes up to her face. "Huh? What'd you say?"

She looked pretty red herself and was narrowing her eyes at him. "I _said_, where do you think you're looking?!"

"Oh, uh… your legs… and waist… and butt," he admitted freely, his eyes going back down as he said so.

"Hey! You can't just…! Natsu!" her voice was angry, high pitched, and had a whine to it that he wasn't sure he didn't like.

"What?" he asked, looking back up at her face and seeing that it'd gotten even redder.

"Don't just say things like that! And don't…"

She blushed harder and he cocked his head, wondering what she was thinking.

"I think you'd better go. I'm too tired to deal with this right now…" she grumbled after a second.

She did look really tired actually, and though he would like to stay, he figured it'd cause more problems than it was worth. So, he heaved a sigh and hopped up from where he'd sat on the carpet, popping his back a little to relieve the stress.

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow. Kay?"

"Right… at the castle gate as usual," she agreed, and he shot her one last big grin before leaving.

* * *

**Sneak Peek:**

_No matter how she looked at it, leaving was inevitable. She really only had two choices: either roll over and take whatever her father decided for her, or fight back and make her own choices. She'd been doing the former all her life and it hadn't been a fun experience. The only thing she had ever done for herself was to become Lady Luck – and that decision had changed her whole life for the better. _

_The answer was very clear the more she thought about it. Marrying someone and moving to another kingdom was not what she wanted, and it would mean the end of Lady Luck. If she left on her own terms, at least she could make arrangements for a new Lady Luck to take her place, and she would be much happier. Plus, someday she might even be able to return in disguise to see all her friends again. _

_When her mind was finally made up, she clenched her fists and whispered, "I'm going to fight back," with all the strength and conviction she could muster._

* * *

Well, looks like Lucy has made some important choices. Wanna take a guess about what might happen next chapter?


	9. CH 9: Decisions and Discussions

**Author's Note:**

Alrighty! It's... well it's Monday. Because I suck sometimes. Sorry guys. 😓

As always, HUGE thanks to all my wonderful reviewers. Big hugs and kisses to: stranger1999, sakshishetty3003, valerioux, FireShifter, AshleighLeeann17, Bugseey, ABT4Life, Melga92, Starstruck-MJ, Lovetoreadff, SistershoOk, Catleana, CathJorda, Leomae2.0, and NarukoSon. You guys are all amazing. :D

Okay, now let's get right to it. On with the show!

* * *

"Um, excuse me, Father…. May I ask a question?" Lucy inquired over breakfast the following morning.

It had taken her at least half the meal to build up enough courage to confront him, but she was determined to get a straight answer about last night.

"What is it, Lucy?"

"Since we were unable to discuss the details of King Eisenwald's social call last night, I was wondering if you could tell me now what its purpose was?"

A small huff and narrowing of his eyes told her that he wasn't amused by her question.

"As I told you last night, it's none of your concern."

"So he wasn't here to discuss marrying me?"

"Yes, that was one of the many things we talked about," he finally conceded, and she felt her gut clench in concern.

"I see. And has anything been decided yet?"

A heavy sigh indicated his growing annoyance, and Lucy felt her own irritation increase as well. He was handling her like an irrational child he had to put up with, and she did not appreciate the treatment.

"He has made an offer for your hand, and I've agreed to take it into consideration. The matter is still under negotiation though, and I intend to wait and see if any of your other suitors are willing to make a better offer. Once they discover a serious proposal has been made, others might be inspired to do the same."

Lucy's teeth gritted with frustration and stress after hearing the news, but she tried to push it all down and stay calm. It helped to remind herself that nothing was decided yet, so she'd have some time to figure out what to do. At that thought, the memory of Natsu's offer last night drifted through her mind, and she twisted the napkin in her lap as temptation and anxiety did battle inside her. The thought of finally being free was as exhilarating as it was terrifying, and she could barely even process it.

His proposed plan was actually really smart – she was shocked she hadn't ever thought of it – but no matter how clever the escape plan was, she still couldn't imagine it working. The fear that something would go horribly wrong was just too paralyzing. On top of that, now she had to worry about Natsu and what would happen to him if they were caught running away together.

If they failed… he would probably be charged with kidnapping her and put to death. He would be risking everything to help her, and she couldn't stand the idea of getting him hurt, much less killed. Just thinking about him being executed made her stomach want to reject the small amount of food she'd put into it.

Her thoughts were so jumbled that she clammed up and silence reigned over the rest of breakfast, and afterwards she was in no state to attend her morning lessons. Instead, she went to the gardens to try and clear her head – even though she knew it would get her in trouble later.

The brisk morning air slapped a little sense into her, and she glanced up to see that the sky was gray with autumn clouds. Many of the trees in their garden were evergreen, but a few lost their leaves, and she made her way to a large oak that was currently cherry red. This particular part of the garden was at a higher elevation than the rest, which meant that it gave her a good view of the castle grounds…. and from here, she could see the tip of her mother's mausoleum among all the other marble spires and angels that populated their private graveyard.

This was another place she came to when she wanted to speak to her mother but didn't want to actually visit her grave.

Risking grass stains, she sat on the ground and leaned her back against the trunk of her chosen tree. For a little while, she rested her head against its bark and looked up into the branches above her, admiring the fiery light filtering down. It made her feel warm inside despite the chilly air, and she sighed, watching the tiny wisp of mist that came out of her mouth.

"What should I do?" she whispered to the leaves and her mother, wondering once again where to go from here.

No matter what she chose, her life was about to take an abrupt turn, and the thought was frightening. There was nothing she could do to keep things the way they were… not that she _wanted_ to continue living under her father's thumb. But there were so many people here that she cherished as close friends, and she hated the thought of leaving them.

However, she didn't have a choice in the matter. No matter what she decided, she would be leaving this place behind and might never return. Her father would either marry her off, or she could run away. Tears ran down her cheeks unnoticed as she contemplated never seeing Aquarius, Brandy, or any of her other castle and town friends again. She would also be leaving her mother behind, and that added another layer of sadness onto her emotional cocktail. Even though Lucy knew that she didn't need to be close to Layla Heartfilia's grave to talk to her, it had always helped her feel more connected to her mom somehow.

A small sob alerted her to the tears, and she reached a hand up to touch her cheek, pulling away to see the moisture dripping from her fingers. It glittered orange in the warm light but made her fingertips cold, and she found the mixed messages ironic.

With a sigh, she let her hand drop and rubbed her tears onto the grass next to her.

It took a few minutes to pull herself together, but eventually she managed to force her mind away from anything too emotional. Blubbering wasn't going to solve her current problem… only looking at the situation objectively had a chance of helping her.

No matter how she looked at it, leaving was inevitable. She really only had two choices: either roll over and take whatever her father decided for her, or fight back and make her own choices. She'd been doing the former all her life and it hadn't been a fun experience. The only thing she had ever done for herself was to become Lady Luck – and that decision had changed her whole life for the better.

The answer was very clear the more she thought about it. Marrying someone and moving to another kingdom was not what she wanted, and it would mean the end of Lady Luck. If she left on her own terms, at least she could make arrangements for a new Lady Luck to take her place, and she would be much happier. Plus, someday she might even be able to return in disguise to see all her friends again.

When her mind was finally made up, she clenched her fists and whispered, "I'm going to fight back," with all the strength and conviction she could muster.

As if answering her, the wind chose that moment to blow through the tree, rustling the leaves and causing a few to fall down around her. It made her smile, and she decided to take it as a sign that she'd made the right decision.

Her eyes drifted down from the sky towards the peak of her mother's grave in the distance, and she murmured, "Thanks, Mom."

For a little while longer, she just sat and enjoyed the calm atmosphere. Then, when she felt like she'd absorbed enough peace and quiet, she stood and brushed off her skirt.

Naturally, as soon as she entered the castle, a servant told her that the king had summoned her to his study. She'd known it was coming, but a snap of anxiety still made her stomach tighten with dread. Somehow though, she was able to remain a little calmer than usual – as if her decision to fight back had given her a big confidence boost.

She followed the servant to her father's study and glared at the huge doors, thinking that nothing good had ever happened behind them.

After the servant announced her presence, she entered the room with her head held high and focused on keeping her breathing slow and even. She was determined to remain calm and unflustered during this confrontation and not let her father cow her. It was the first challenge she assigned herself.

Her determination wavered a little at the sound of the doors closing behind her and when she caught sight of her father's deep scowl, but she managed to pull herself together again after a second.

"I understand you missed your morning lessons today."

Another deep breath helped stop the jitters that tried to pop up, and she was able to answer in a calm voice. "That's true. I was somewhat upset after our conversation this morning and took a walk in the gardens to clear my head."

His brow furrowed even deeper and his fingers pressed together harder. "And why have you been skipping your music lessons while I was gone?"

"My wrist was not healing as it should while taking them, so I decided it would be better to abstain until it stopped hurting."

His glare tried to pin her in place, but she did her best to remain strong and unaffected.

"Your lessons are meant to mold you into a proper royal young woman. They are compulsory, and it's not up to you to decide when you will attend them. Shirking your responsibilities is entirely unacceptable."

"I understand," she said simply.

It was true. She did understand his point of view and agreed with it up to a certain point. Learning and gaining knowledge was never a bad thing… even if she didn't like the things she currently had to study. However, when the process actually hurt her health, she thought it was perfectly reasonable to put her lessons on hold.

He blinked, as if surprised by her answer. "You seem different."

"How so?"

His eyes narrowed, as if he was trying to read her mind, and she met his gaze head-on. It made her knees get a little weak and her stomach tried to strangle itself, but she forced herself to stay strong.

"You have a new air about you… perhaps arrogance? I don't believe it suits you."

She was actually a little amused that he thought her new self-confidence was 'arrogance.' It was just like him to twist a positive character trait into an unpleasant one to suit his needs.

It was definitely satisfying to know that he apparently couldn't see how much she was still shaking inside, and she gave herself a mental pat on the back. Just knowing that helped to boost her confidence a little more, and she was able to take an extra draw from her new inner strength…. Which was good, because it was all she could do to stay calm and collected in the face of her father's calculating glare. He looked like he was trying to pick her apart with his eyes, and she didn't like the feeling.

"Was there anything else you needed? As you pointed out yourself, I have lessons to attend."

This was the first time she had ever dismissed herself, and his eyes widened for a brief moment with surprise and then squinted at her again, his scowl even sharper and more cutting than before. He looked like he wanted to say a lot more, but after a bit of teeth grinding he eventually flapped his hand at her with a sudden violent movement.

"Very well," he spat. "Go to your lessons. I have work to do and you're delaying me."

She didn't bother saying goodbye, she just curtseyed and walked out.

Once past the doors, she almost went limp with relief but somehow kept herself from flopping to the floor. She was hoping to make her father think that she'd turned over a new confident leaf, and collapsing in the hallway right after he'd lectured her definitely wouldn't help. So she kept her back stiff and forced her limbs to work properly as she made her way towards her first tutoring session of the day.

…

For the rest of the day, Lucy's concentration was split. No matter what she ended up doing during her lessons, she was constantly distracted by her spinning thoughts as she tried to figure out what to do next.

By the time she made her way into town as Lady Luck, she'd come to several important decisions.

She would use Natsu's plan, and if he wanted to join her despite the risk, he was welcome. Of course she planned to try and convince him that it was too dangerous, but something told her that he wouldn't take no for an answer.

As for Lady Luck… she needed to find a replacement soon and wanted to train them for at least a few days before she left.

A lot of the day had been spent trying to figure out who would make a good replacement, and eventually she'd reluctantly settled on Brandy. On the plus side, she already knew about Lucy's secret identity, which would make the switch much less complicated. However, the greenette was so incredibly lazy that Lucy anticipated a lot of fussing about how much work it would be.

She had contemplated asking the kitchen staff, and even briefly thought about Aquarius – _very_ briefly – but in the end, Brandy was her oldest friend and she trusted her. Besides that, Lucy knew that Brandy had several close friends in town that might be willing to help her out... and if that didn't work, Brandy also had a number of men at her beck and call that she could order around.

Ultimately, Lucy was confident about her decision and resolved to ask Brandy about it tonight when she got home. After finding out about King Eisenwald's proposal, she was eager to get the ball rolling and hightail it out of here.

Her distraction must have been obvious because Natsu asked her several times if something was wrong while they picked up food. She didn't want to discuss it where anyone could overhear them though, so she told him that they could talk about it after she finished handing out food…. And then she tried extra hard to focus so nobody else would pick up on her absentmindedness.

It was pretty hard to concentrate though, because she quickly started to get anxious and excited about telling Natsu her plans.

In fact, she was so eager to talk with him about it, that as soon as they were done for the day, she immediately dragged him to a place where she knew they could discuss things without anyone eavesdropping. There were several nobles who owned fairly large pieces of land, and some of that land had patches of foresty areas. Since she had trespassed so many times, she knew all the spots that would be good for a private conversation and how to get to them without being spotted – not that it would really matter if they _were_ seen. All of the guards in the noble district had seen her around so much, they probably thought that she was a freelance gardener or something that worked on all of the nobles' estates.

Of course Natsu didn't come quietly with her, he immediately started asking questions.

"Where're we goin'?"

"Somewhere that we can talk in private," she responded, feeling herself flush a little at how that sounded.

"Oh… okay. Cool."

At least he didn't seem to be fazed by it and he followed along without protesting. Since it would be a hassle to push the cart through a wooded area, she decided to stop by the castle really quickly to drop it off, and then headed straight for the nearest piece of land with lots of trees. Luckily there was one right by the castle, so it only took a couple of minutes to get there.

Once they finally arrived, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, preparing herself for what was sure to be a rollercoaster of emotions.

Of course, Natsu didn't hesitate at all to launch into the conversation.

"So what's up? You've been edgy and weird all day."

She rolled her eyes and chuckled. "You think 'weird' means everything from hungry to itchy."

He shrugged. "I dunno. Weird means weird, ya know?"

"Oh! Of course. I understand now. That cleared it all up," she exclaimed with amused sarcasm.

He snorted, crossed his arms, and propped his back against a nearby tree. She mimicked him, shooting him a small grin as she leaned against her own trunk.

"Great, glad I could help," he snarked back. "So are ya gonna tell me what's goin' on?"

It took her a moment to try and figure out how to start, and she sighed, glancing off to the side as she thought about it.

"Hello? Lucy? Anybody in there?" he pestered after a minute, and she sent him a slightly disapproving look.

"I'm thinking, alright? This is a big deal, and I don't want to mess it up."

"Jeez, Luce… you overthink things way too much. Just say whatever's on your mind."

She blinked at the new nickname, rolling it around in her mind to figure out if she liked it or not. It didn't take her long to decide that it felt _nice_ for him to have a special pet name for her – maybe a little too nice if she was honest with herself – and she flushed with warmth.

Somehow, being flustered made it easier to do what Natsu had suggested and just spit out what was on her mind.

"Okay, well… I've been busy thinking about plans for the future," she started, and his eyes lit up.

Before she could continue, he interrupted her train of thought. "Did ya decide to bust outta here with me?"

"If you would let me finish…" she snapped, shooting him a mild glare, and he mimed zipping his lips closed.

With a snort, she continued, finding his antics mildly ridiculous. "_As I was saying_, I talked to my father this morning and found out that the man he brought with him last night made a proposal to marry me. Thankfully nothing's been decided yet, and my father says he wants to wait and see if anyone else will make him a better offer. So that really got me thinking, and, yes, I decided to leave… but I don't think it's a good idea for you to come with me."

He started to interrupt her again, no doubt with some kind of protest, but she held her hand up and shushed him. "Let me finish! I was going to say that it would be really bad for you if we were captured. There isn't much they could do to me, but you would probably be executed for 'kidnapping' me. I can't risk that."

"No way! I'm coming with ya!" he burst out, obviously unable to hold his tongue any longer.

"Why? Don't you have other things you need to do? When we first met, you said you had plans."

"I do! But it's nothing I can't put off for a while. Getting you to safety is my first priority right now."

Her belly tightened and did a few fancy flips she was sure she couldn't replicate.

"Oh…" she said softly and looked at her feet, hoping the evening shadows hid her blush.

Everything inside her was all warm and melty in a way she still wasn't used to, and she suddenly felt like she might pop from the pressure. Judging from the sheer intensity of it, she was pretty sure that somewhere along the line 'falling' had become 'fallen' when it came to her love status.

Without thinking about it, some of what she was thinking and feeling came out of her mouth. "I'm not saying that I don't want you to come with me, you know. I'd actually much rather be with you, it's just… I'm afraid. I can't stand the thought of you getting hurt because of me. I really…"

When she realized that she was about to say a whole lot more than she intended to, she came to a screeching halt and bit her lip.

"Hey, don't worry about me. I'm pretty good at getting myself outta trouble," he said softly, sounding like he was trying to comfort her, and she choked on a laugh.

"I should hope so, with all the trouble you probably get into," she chuckled soggily, wishing her voice didn't sound so thick. At that point she realized that she'd teared up again for the second time today and felt a little silly about it.

It helped when his low laughter joined hers, masking some of the tears in her voice.

There was a brief, slightly tense silence as she focused on trying to rein her emotions back under control, but after a couple minutes of wrestling, she gave up on it. She had already been emotional from everything that had happened today, so she was too weak to fight the fresh wave of feelings. Besides, they were too huge for her to contain anymore anyways.

She hadn't planned to confess her feelings to Natsu yet, they were still too new and overwhelming and difficult to understand, but something in the air made her suddenly want to tell him right now. The pressure in her chest was so intense that she felt like she would burst if she didn't release it.

Still, she reminded herself that she didn't have to jump into this without a plan… she could be strategic and test the waters a little first before diving.

Licking her lips, she felt her heart kick up in speed as she carefully said, "It's a shame that you couldn't court me… since you're a noble and all. I know that's probably impossible, considering how you left home, but… it would have been nice."

"No kidding?"

This time it was his voice that sounded a little choked, and she risked peeking at him.

It was starting to get a little dark now, so she couldn't see as clearly as she wanted, but she thought she saw some extra pink in his cheeks. His eyes were also wide and shocked, but he didn't look upset…. if anything, there was something in his eyes that gave her a little hope.

That helped her muster up the courage to say, "Yeah. Of course, you would've still had to win over my father… but _**I**_ would have picked you."

The silence was so thick after she spoke that she heard his breath catch. His eyes got even wider and his jaw dropped a little, then he licked his lips and swallowed – several times. He definitely looked flustered, but he seemed to be taking it well and her flicker of hope got even brighter.

"Is that just 'cause we're friends?... Or… uh… something else?" he eventually asked,

Well, she'd tested the waters and nothing had bitten her yet, so she decided to go a little deeper. With a fortifying breath, she hesitantly asked, "Well… that depends. I _do_ consider you a friend, and I wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize that friendship… so… how would you feel if I told you it was more than that?"

He blinked and swallowed again before asking, "More than what?"

It took another couple of deep breaths to get up the courage to say, "More than just friends."

When he still looked like he might not get what she was asking, she repeated herself, even though it nearly killed her. "How would you feel if I told you that I was… uh… falling in love with you, for example?"

His eyes widened dramatically and he sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth. For a long moment he stared at her like she'd shocked the air out of his body… and the longer he stayed quiet, the quicker Lucy started having second thoughts.

…

.

…

Natsu was definitely shocked. He was downright stunned in fact. He couldn't move, couldn't breathe… couldn't even think. It felt like she'd kicked him in the head and knocked him out, but his eyes were still open for some weird reason.

He snapped out of it a little when she started shuffling uncomfortably, and then he completely came to when she started speed-talking like her life depended on it.

"I'm sorry… um… I shouldn't have said anything. It was just a hypothetical question; I didn't want to make you uncomfortable or anything. You can totally forget everything I just said. Unless you also think that maybe you have a hypothetical situation… I mean… uh… what am I saying? Just never mind. Don't worry about it."

Her hands waved around in the air – like she was trying to scare off a fly or fan away a bad smell – and she was looking more and more embarrassed and scared by the second. Without thinking about it, he grabbed one of her flapping wrists and stopped her.

"Woah… easy there. Calm down."

She took several big shaky breaths and then seemed to hold them, looking at him with big hopeful eyes that made him wanna yank her close so he could kiss her or something. It was freaking unbearable, and he had to crunch his eyes closed and shake his head to get himself together. He hadn't expected this, and it was throwing him for a loop, but he knew he had to come clean with her quick or he could lose the opportunity to be with her.

"I… uh… I actually have a girlfriend… bu-"

Before he could even finish what he was about to say, she gasped and started spewing apologies.

"I'm so sorry! That was completely inappropriate… I never should have said anything! Please forget the whole thing… It, uh… it didn't really mean anything, you know, I was just joking around… so…"

He squeezed her wrist harder and gave a little yank to stop her from pulling out of his grip and probably running away, if the panicky look on her face was any indication.

"Hey! Stop that! Wait just a minute and hear me out!" he practically shouted over her, and she froze, looking totally freaked-out and scared but finally paying attention to him.

He blew out a deep breath of relief that'd gotten stuck when she started fighting him.

"Jeez, you scared me, Luce. I thought you were gonna run off before I could finish," he sighed, and then got serious.

After clearing his throat, he kept going and hoped he'd say the right thing this time. "So… all that just a second ago was bullshit, right? 'Cause I get the feeling that you weren't just 'joking around' when you said ya loved me…"

She turned bright red and looked away. "I… um… but… you have a girlfriend, so…"

"Okay, yeah. That's not where I should've started, obviously. So let's try this again. You asked how I'd feel if you said ya loved me, right?"

She slowly nodded and he felt his shoulders relax just a bit.

"Awesome. It'd make me feel awesome… and amazing… and super happy. I mean, I was kinda shocked earlier, but it was a good shock. So… yeah… can I hear ya say it?"

When she glanced up at him, she still looked a little scared, but now she also looked happy and confused, which was definitely a step in the right direction. But seriously, she had to stop chewing on her lip. If she bit it one more time, he was gonna go nuts.

"I… I do love you…" she finally whispered, and he felt several things in his body jump and do cartwheels. It was a really interesting feeling… but kinda nice.

"But… you have a…"

"Stop right there," he interrupted her, determined to nip that in the butt and fix this whole mess. "Look, I never said I don't wanna be with you. I love you too, ya know."

She blinked, and then blinked again, looking a little spazzy for a second. Then her face crumpled up in a completely confused frown. "I… don't understand. You _**did**_ say that you have a girlfriend… and I don't… How can you love me if…? Maybe I misunderstood you. By, 'be with me,' do you mean…?"

Thinking fast, he tried to figure out how to say it so she couldn't misunderstand him, and then a lightbulb went off in his head when he remembered how she'd worded it.

"I mean I wanna court you. I wanna be together… like _together_. Dating and kissing and boyfriend/girlfriend type stuff."

"But… how can you say you love me… and also have a girlfriend…" she asked, looking really upset, and he realized he was gonna have to give her a quick rundown of his situation for her to understand.

With a sigh, he let her go and took a step back. "Look, it's kind of a long story, but I'll try to shorten it some. Basically, when I was growing up, there was this other noble family with some kids that I liked to play with. We were all great friends, but I really liked the youngest girl, Lisanna. She and I were best friends, and we sorta had baby crushes on each other. We didn't really know what it meant, but we really liked each other, and I thought she was pretty and stuff."

He could see she was getting uncomfortable, so he skipped through some of that. "Uh, yeah, anyways… all the adults saw us together and they kinda went into matchmaker mode. Everyone was always talking about how cute we were together, and eventually they started saying we'd get married and stuff when we grew up. Nothing was ever signed, but there was sort of a verbal agreement between our parents."

After another short bracing breath, he forced himself to continue, even though he didn't like thinking about what happened next. "Unfortunately… we've got a demon problem in my kingdom. They're always attacking us… and one day they got into town and… it didn't end well. Lisanna's parents died in the attack, and when that demon went after Lisanna and her siblings, her older sister – Mira – used magic to stop it. But Mira's magic is a takeover type, so she basically had to absorb the demon. After that… well, the rest of the nobles and even the king saw her as a threat because she couldn't really control it. Parts of her body would turn into a demon without warning, and sometimes she would lash out. Eventually, the whole family was told to leave…"

Lucy still looked a little confused, but her gaze was more sympathetic and she'd obviously been caught up in the story. Now, if he could just get through this next part without messing it up, maybe things would work out between them.

"I left a couple years later, and after a bunch of traveling around and training with Igneel, eventually I found my current home. It's a guild, and most've the members don't have family, or are on the run. Actually, it's the safehouse I told ya about. But anyways… yeah. Turns out that's also where Lisanna and her sister and brother ended up after they got kicked outta my kingdom."

"I bet that was a surprise. To see them again like that," Lucy said softly when he paused for breath, and he nodded.

"Yeah. It shocked the hell outta me. That's part of why I joined the guild. And when I did… Lisanna and I sorta picked up where we left off. We were super-close friends for years after that… and I guess we were kinda together. Everyone thought we were anyways."

This was the hard part to explain, and he figured he'd better just cut to the chase and spit it out. "I really hate to admit this, but… I thought I loved her. I really did… 'cause I didn't know any better. I'd never been in love, and I was still in the mindset that we were supposed to be together. So, when she suggested that we actually start dating, I agreed. But… something wasn't right and I could never put my finger on it."

With a rough exhale, he pushed his bangs out of his eyes, fidgeting with them uncomfortably. "I was so stupid!"

"What happened?" Lucy eventually asked, when he had a hard time figuring out what to say next.

"I met you," he said easily, and saw her eyes widen.

"What… do you mean?"

"Simple. I fell in love with you. And after that, I realized just how dumb I'd been. What I felt… what I _feel_ for Lisanna is WAY more platonic than I'd thought… it's basically just a super close friendship with maybe a remembered crush or something. I do love her – and I think she's pretty and stuff – but I don't really _love_ her. Not like that. I had no idea what real romantic love felt like until I met you… and it was like being bowled over by a train. There's no comparison between the two."

It was obvious that Lucy was trying to absorb everything he'd just told her. She was definitely still freaked out, but she was starting to look a little calmer. There was a lot of blinking and spastic frowning as she worked through it all, but she didn't seem scared or angry. Then, when she suddenly flushed and her eyes went wide, he guessed that she'd finally put everything together and got what he was saying. She immediately looked away from him and bit her lip… _again_.

Just like he'd known it would, seeing her teeth dig into her lip again made him go a little nutty, and it was only worse now because she was blushing. He completely lost track of what they were talking about for a second, as his insides suddenly got all tight and hot. It felt like his belly was on fire, and he was pretty sure he could breathe the stuff without using any magic right now if he wanted to. He also probably had heartburn… or else his heart was just shooting off fireworks or something.

When her dark eyes finally flicked back up to meet his, he felt helpless and drunk and kinda queasy and sparkly all at the same time. Time literally stood still, as dumb and poetic as that sounded, but he honestly couldn't feel the minutes passing as they just stared into each other's eyes like a couple of idiots.

She sucked in a shuddering breath and her eyes closed for a really long blink. When she opened them again, they weren't as wide as before… like something heavy was sitting on her eyelids. Whatever had her eyes going half-mast must've gotten him too, because he couldn't seem to open eyes all the way either.

"So… you really love me?" she finally whispered super softly, and he instinctively leaned in closer, even though he could hear her just fine.

Her breath hit him in the face, and he shivered at the feeling. It was warm and kinda wet and a little salty from whatever she'd eaten earlier… and he quickly decided that the whole thing was weirdly intimate and sexy.

He liked it so much that he got even closer, until he could feel warm air against his face every time she breathed, and it took him a second to remember that he still had to answer her.

"Yeah. Crazy as it sounds."

She huffed a small laugh, and he absorbed the puff with a smile.

"I know what you mean… I can't believe I've fallen for you in only a couple of weeks. If I believed in soulmates or destined lovers or something like that… I would say that something very special and strange is going on."

"Everything you do is _special _and _strange_."

She gasped and smacked him on the arm lightly, before chuckling and letting her forehead rest against his. It was incredibly warm, and he felt his eyes slipping closed.

"You just won't give up on that, will you…?" she laughed, obviously talking about his little joke.

Though it wasn't exactly a joke. He did think she was weird and strange and different, but in all the best ways. She wasn't like anyone else he'd ever met… she was special and unique to him.

He felt like telling her to take it as a compliment, but in the end he held off because he enjoyed pissing her off a little. The way her eyes got all fiery when she was irritated at him would never get old… and it was kinda hot to be honest.

After they both stopped laughing, things went real quiet. Without the other distractions, he suddenly realized just how close they really were, and the space between them seemed to heat up and get super muggy… like the sticky air right before a storm. Speaking of storms… he could practically feel electricity running between them, and his lips tingled, an unbearable urge to kiss her kicking him in the gut.

Before he knew what was going on, his hand had grown a mind of its own again and was reaching for her face. The feel of her cheek in his palm made him realize that he'd gotten handsy, but it was a little too late at that point to rethink the decision. He might've been the one to grab her, but it felt like she'd grabbed him too, because he couldn't pull back.

Her skin was so damn soft… like seriously, _seriously_ soft. Hot too… 'cause she was blushing of course, and the heat was amazing. It made him wanna feel even more of her. Which was not a good… 'cause his curiosity immediately bit him hard in the ass, and he suddenly started wondering if she'd be just as warm everywhere… or if there were parts of her that were even hotter.

Natsu had always had a taste for fire – he kinda liked it a little more than he should honestly – and right now she was like a torch he wanted to eat. The thought, '_I wonder what she'd taste like?_' started out innocent enough, but it switched to something else real quick, and his mouth dried up like he was in a desert as his temperature went through the roof.

…

.

…

Lucy felt the shift as keenly as Natsu, and her breathing picked up until she was almost panting. Her heart pounded so fast she worried it might escape somehow or at least explode from overexertion, and it felt like all her nerves were on fire and vibrating with intensity. But even though it was a little scary, it was also exhilarating to feel everything so intensely and clearly.

Her body swayed towards him, the desire to get closer too strong to resist, and she ended up grabbing onto his upper arm tightly. The surprisingly firm muscles underneath her hand flexed, as if in response to her hold, and she felt the fingers on her cheek twitch. A warm palm landed lightly on her waist, and his breath stuttered on her lips. Her own breathing hiccupped at the new contact, and she felt compelled to hold it for a moment, her chest growing tight with the added pressure. Her stomach rolled as if it had just fallen off a cliff and then fluttered as it learned to fly.

The anticipation was almost painful.

Those last few inches started to feel like miles, and she desperately wanted to close them. However, as soon as their lips brushed, he suddenly gasped and shoved her back.

She wobbled for a moment, thrown off balance and stunned into idiocy, but she quickly regained her footing and her lungs as she gasped for air, the question of '_what happened?_' sitting on the tip of her tongue. Before she could ask though, he was answering in a tone just as breathless as hers would've been.

"Sorry! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…! Ugh… I'm such an idiot!" he sputtered, sounding like he was in pain and very annoyed with himself.

One look in his conflicted eyes told her all she needed to know, and any feelings of hurt were quickly squashed…. but the disappointment was a lot harder to get rid of.

"I'm sorry!" he repeated, but this time continued to say, "It's not that I don't wanna kiss you… trust me, I really, really, _really_ wanna kiss you right now, but I can't do it before I break things off properly with Lisanna. I can't hurt her like that."

She cleared her throat and licked her dry lips, trying to pull herself together enough to say, "I understand. You still love her as a friend, and you want to respect her."

Her voice was still a little husky and hoarse, which was embarrassing, but she did her best to not worry about it. There were bigger things to think about right now.

Honestly, she fully respected and supported his decision – even if the less logical parts of her were still throwing a little temper tantrum. If anything, this just proved that he was the honest and trustworthy man that she'd thought he was.

"Yeah, exactly…" he breathed out on a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you get it…"

"Of course."

And then an awkward blanket of tension fell between them as they both got flustered by what had almost happened. It lay thick and heavy and uncomfortable, until Lucy cleared her throat again and glanced up at the sky.

"It looks like it's getting a little late… I guess I should start heading home now."

"Oh… yeah," Natsu grunted, and followed her back the way they came until they reached the castle gates.

There was a short pause, and then he asked, "See ya tomorrow?"

Normally when her father was home she wouldn't be able to see Natsu every day, but since she was behind in her food rounds – thanks to King Eisenwald's visit – she figured it would be okay to go into town again. The people on the eastside would be expecting her anyways.

"Okay…" she agreed and then hesitated, not wanting to leave just yet, but unable to think of a good reason to stay. And so she eventually sighed and gave him a smile as she said, "Goodnight, Natsu…"

He swallowed and his voice was a hair thicker when he responded.

"Night."

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_"No, I don't want to go back into town… could we just talk about our plans for leaving and get everything ironed out? I think that would help me feel better more than anything else," she asked._

_He shrugged. "Sure, I'm game. You wanna go back to that spot we hung out at yesterday?" _

_She nodded and started leading him towards the nearby forested area, a little nervous about returning to the place where they'd confessed their feelings to each other just yesterday. But even so, it was the best place to talk about secret plans… that was the whole reason she'd taken him there yesterday in the first place. She just had to get over her discomfort and suck it up. _

_When they finally arrived, she immediately launched into hushed conversation, wanting to get the ball rolling to distract herself. _

* * *

Well, it looks like we have some plans in the works. Anyone wanna start a betting pool about whether those plans are going to go smoothly?


	10. CH 10: One Annoyed Friend and More Plans

**Author's Note:**

Hello all! It's Sunday! Well, technically it's early Monday morning, but whatever. Anywho, new chapter! Yay!

As always, HUGE thanks to all my wonderful reviewers. BIG hugs and kisses to: AshleighLeeann17, Starstruck-MJ, Trollka21, Bugseey, NarukoSon, valerioux, Leomae2.0, BlazingFringe, SistershoOk, stranger1999, jules828, Catleana, and FireShifter!

Alrighty! Let's get right to it, shall we? On with the show!

* * *

The next evening found Brandy in street clothes instead of her maid uniform – not that she actually wore her uniform that much – as Lucy met her near the kitchens.

The greenette did _not_ look particularly happy and immediately launched into complaints when Lucy reached her.

"I can't believe you talked me into this… what a hassle. You're lucky you're my best friend."

"I'm so sorry, Brandy… but thank you, _thank you_, _**thank you**_… you're a real life-saver."

"Yeah, yeah… I know. But I'm going to get someone else to do it as soon as I can find a replacement," the maid grumbled.

"That's totally fine. I know you'll find the right person for the job."

Brandy sighed and groaned, "Thanks for the pressure, I really appreciate it. But yeah… I'll make sure to find someone good, alright?"

"I didn't mean…" Lucy started, grimacing a little, and then just gave up and apologized again.

"Yeah, yeah… it's fine," the other woman said with another sigh.

That seemed to be the signal to drop it, so Lucy kept herself from apologizing again. From there, they walked in silence through the small kitchen gardens, and it only broke when they reached the kitchen door.

Yajima answered when Lucy knocked, and his eyes immediately widened with surprise when he saw Brandy next to her.

"Ms. Brandish! What are you doing here with Lady Luck?"

Lucy raised her hand to indicate that she would answer the question. "Brandy has agreed to take over for me as Lady Luck when I'm gone. I figured it would make things easier on her if she shadowed me for a little while first before having to fully take everything on."

The chef looked confused and alarmed for a second, but then his face smoothed out with understanding. "Ah, I see. So your father has chosen someone for you to marry then?"

He was careful not to give away too much, and his question was generic enough that his staff wouldn't be able to figure out who she really was.

"Someone has proposed, but Father hasn't agreed to it yet. I don't know how long it'll take him to decide though, so I wanted to start getting ready now. Depending on who he chooses, I might not stick around for the wedding day."

Yajima's eyebrows arched, and he seemed both surprised and impressed. "I'm happy to hear it."

"Yeah! Good for you! If yer dad's still inta all that arranged marriage crap, skip town before he can get ya hitched to an idjit," Baldroy bellowed from somewhere behind Yajima, and a crash quickly followed.

"Focus on what you're doing! Don't get distracted… you'll drop things!" The head chef's voice was loud and firm, but not angry as he turned to scold his errant staff member.

Lucy had always thought he was more like a stern grandfather to Baldroy and Mey-Rin than anything, and she found herself smiling at their antics. In all honesty, he had been something of a grandfather figure for her too. Then, without warning, she abruptly had to fight off a few tears at the thought that she would have to leave them soon.

"Well, anyways… thank you, Ms. Brandish," he said as he turned back to them, this time addressing Brandy. "We'll all miss Lady Luck dearly, but with your help at least her absence won't be such a loss. A lot of people depend on her, as I'm sure you know."

"Yeah… I'll give it my best shot, but I'm not as motivated as Luc-" She coughed and sent Lucy a sour look when the princess elbowed her, but she quickly fixed her mistake by jabbing her thumb sideways at Lucy. _"-this one._ So we'll see how long I can keep it up."

"If you ever need any help, just let us know. I'm sure Mey-Rin and Baldroy would be happy to pitch in," Yajima instantly offered, and Lucy's heart lightened a lot knowing that Brandy would have help.

Brandy also seemed to perk up, and she gave the older man one of her rare smiles as she thanked him.

"Of course. Now, I'm going to have to say goodbye to you lovely ladies. My pies are nearly done and I have to attend to them. I'll call over one of the kitchen staff to help you with the leftovers."

"Thank you, Mr. Yajima, as always," Lucy replied, waving goodbye to him as he disappeared back into the kitchens.

Soon Baldroy appeared at the door carrying all of the bags of leftovers at once. Lucy '_eeped_' and hurried to get the cart as close to the door as she could so he could dump his huge load in. This wasn't the first time she'd seen him use a shocking amount of strength, but it always stunned her. The blond teen looked way too lanky to be that strong, but she supposed that he was the definition of, '_don't judge a book by it's cover.'_

"Don't just drop them! There are fruits and vegetables in those bags!" Yajima barked from somewhere in the kitchen, and Baldroy fumbled to hang onto the bags he was in the process of dumping.

He only let one fall into the cart, and then he carefully placed the rest – all the while making a face and giving the two women a pleading look that clearly said, '_Oops, please don't tell him I dropped one..._'

Lucy sent him a smile, and didn't say anything other than, "Thank you, Baldroy, we'd better head off now."

He gave her a grateful grin in return and sent them off with a salute. "Have a good day, ladies!"

Brandy completely ignored him of course, but Lucy waved as they left. Then they made their bumpy way down the servant's path into the noble district. As they exited the small castle gate, Lucy tipped her head to the guard on duty, who eyed Brandy with a little surprise but didn't comment.

Naturally, it wasn't long before they were joined by another companion, who bounded out from his spot sitting under a large oak near the street.

"Hey there, Lucky!" Natsu eagerly greeted, slinging his arm around her shoulders in a way that very nearly choked her.

"N-Natsu! Careful!" she scolded, batting at him and straightening her hat, which he had accidentally knocked askew with his enthusiastic greeting.

As usual, he didn't look apologetic. In fact, he didn't even seem to have noticed her fussing at him. Instead, his attention had shifted to Brandy and he was looking at the other woman with bright curious eyes. For a very brief second, Lucy got a little uneasy and glanced at Brandy as well, eyeing her low-cut tank top and mini skirt with jealousy. The greenette had an extremely curvy body and was everything that Lucy imagined a man found beautiful.

It took a little doing, but by the time Natsu asked, "Who's this?" she had wrestled the stupid doubts away and was able to answer normally.

"This is my handmaid, Brandish. She'll be taking my place after I leave." Then she turned to Brandy and gestured at Natsu, poking her finger into his cheek as he leaned in. "And this dolt right here is Natsu… the guy who's been helping me so much lately."

Brandy's expression stayed basically bored, but one of her green eyebrows quirked with a little interest. She leisurely looked him up and down – twice – and then she slid her gaze to Lucy and hiked her eyebrow up again, even higher this time.

When she didn't say anything, Lucy thought that was the end of it and distracted Natsu by saying, "We should probably get going… we're a little behind schedule as it is."

His attention immediately switched back to her, and he cheerfully replied, "Alright then! Let's get the lead out!"

Brandy waited until Lucy was trading places with Natsu at the head of the cart, and then she asked, "You sure he's not your boyfriend?"

Lucy promptly tripped on thin air, and nearly capsized the cart as she stumbled forwards. When it tipped dangerously to one side, Natsu grabbed the handlebars and yanked it back upright with an exclamation of, "Whoa!"

"Yeah. Watch it," Brandy lightly agreed, and flashed Lucy a mildly amused glance.

To anyone that didn't know her as well as Lucy did, Brandy's expression would be as blank and bored as usual, but the princess easily caught her slight smirk.

Lucy huffed and fixed her with the best '_don't you dare_' look she could manage, and Brandy's lips quirked as she rolled her eyes. Thankfully, she wasn't the kind of person to cause problems, so she didn't bring it up again.

As for Natsu, he was blissfully ignorant as usual, and Lucy breathed a sigh of relief that they'd managed to painlessly navigate the potentially awkward situation.

The rest of their trip through the noble district was still full of awkward and unpleasant moments though, since she had to repeatedly introduce Brandy as the new 'Lady Luck' in training… which also meant she had to tell everyone that she planned to leave soon. Seeing everyone's shock, confusion, disappointment, and grief was like a shot to the heart, and she started dreading the dull look that always came into their eyes after she told them.

It was even worse when they started to hand out food and news quickly spread about her having to leave soon. There were tears, and many even begged her to stay – which forced her to say that she couldn't and watch their faces crumple up in distress. Some even got angry and asked why she had to leave. Thankfully, the rumor-mill worked in her favor, and someone came up with the idea that she was skipping town to get away from her abusive man. By the end of the night, pretty much everyone was on the same page about why she had to leave, so she didn't have to try to explain herself anymore.

By then, her heart felt fractured and tender, and she was completely exhausted emotionally. If it hadn't been for Natsu's constant cheerful presence, she would have probably cracked somewhere along the way… but with him there she'd somehow managed to keep her façade in place. Though she grieved right along with everyone, she was unfortunately put in the position of an authority figure and had to maintain a certain amount of composure… especially whenever anyone pleaded with her to reconsider. She had to at least keep enough strength to repeatedly say no without breaking down into tears.

When all was said and done, she felt like she could happily sleep for several days straight without waking up. It was definitely with a sigh of relief that she finally dropped the cart off at the palace – at which point Brandy also said goodnight and headed off.

However, Lucy wanted a little more time with Natsu, and so she met up with him again outside of the servant's gate.

"You okay? That looked kinda rough today…"

"Yeah it was… but I'll be okay," she sighed, a little surprised that he'd noticed and touched that he was worried about her.

"You wanna go play pool or something?"

"No, I don't want to go back into town… could we just talk about our plans for leaving and get everything ironed out? I think that would help me feel better more than anything else," she asked.

He shrugged. "Sure, I'm game. You wanna go back to that spot we hung out at yesterday?"

She nodded and started leading him towards the nearby forested area, a little nervous about returning to the place where they'd confessed their feelings to each other just yesterday. But even so, it was the best place to talk about secret plans… that was the whole reason she'd taken him there yesterday in the first place. She just had to get over her discomfort and suck it up.

When they finally arrived, she immediately launched into hushed conversation, wanting to get the ball rolling to distract herself.

"Okay, well…. First of all, I'm worried that leaving together isn't the best idea."

"Huh? Why's that?" he asked, plopping down with a huff and leaning against a tree trunk.

She joined him on the ground as she answered. "If something goes wrong and somebody recognizes me somehow before we leave, you'll be in a lot of danger."

"Eh… we'll just run for it."

"But let's assume that we can't outrun them. If they catch us, I'd like for you to be able to get away. If we don't leave together, they won't follow you at all. But if they see you with me, they won't let you escape… they'll hunt you down even after catching me."

"Then we won't let 'em catch us. Problem solved."

His utter lack of concern made a blood vessel start to pound in her forehead from frustration. "Well, _**I**_ care. Just think about it like this if you have to… you can't come and rescue me if they catch us both."

She didn't actually _want_ him to rescue her, because that would just get him caught anyways, but she thought the idea might convince him to play it safe.

He rolled his eyes. "Even if they caught up with us, we wouldn't have any problems. I've got some tricks up my sleeve that always work."

That was pretty amazing if it was true, but she still thought he was seriously underestimating the power of this kingdom's soldiers. If he went into this too cocky, he'd get them both killed.

"Natsu… I'm serious!"

With a lot of obvious disinterest, he fended her off by saying, "Alright, alright… so what do you wanna do about it?"

"How about you leave in the morning and wait for me somewhere. I can come join you later that day."

His eyes narrowed and he frowned at her. "I don't like it… if something _does_ go wrong, I won't be able to help ya out if I'm not even in the city."

"Okay, then how about _I_ leave first and _you_ catch up with _me_?"

He rolled his eyes. "I guess… but I still think all that goin' around is kinda pointless…"

"Can you please just do it for me? For my peace of mind?" she finally asked, feeling like she had resorted to begging.

He blinked, seeming taken aback, but then his eyes softened and he smiled in a way that made her stomach flutter. It was gentler than his usual happy grin, and somehow she knew it was connected to the feelings they'd talked about last night.

He heaved a sigh and finally conceded with, "Alright, you win. If it'll make ya feel better, we'll do it your way."

"Thank you…" she murmured gratefully, feeling a little flustered and breathless from the way he was still looking at her.

The air gradually thickened with tension as neither of them said anything else for a long moment. It started simply enough with them smiling at each other, but soon their eye contact got more intense and something sparked between them.

Before she knew it was happening, the atmosphere suddenly felt a lot like yesterday, and she flushed. Unbidden, her thoughts started replaying some of the things that had happened – and _almost_ happened – in this very spot less than twenty-four hours ago. The look in his eyes and the special way he had smiled at her brought it all back very sharply… not that she needed any kind of reminder. The memory was still _extremely_ fresh.

They sat facing each other, both their backs leaning against trees, and it was a good thing that there was some space between them. If they had been standing or were sitting any closer, she was almost positive that they would've somehow gravitated together and ended up in an embrace. She easily recognized the tingly electricity in the air from the last time they'd been in this spot.

When she started blushing, she had automatically glanced off to the side… but after a while, she risked looking back and saw that Natsu was also a little pinker than usual. He was staring intently at his crossed legs, and he kept squinting and frowning spastically – which was a little strange and funny. It almost looked like he was thinking too hard about something and it wasn't going too well.

If there hadn't been such a thick atmosphere, she might've been tempted to make some sort of lighthearted joke along the lines of, '_That much thinking looks painful, don't hurt yourself_.' But with the crackling tension in the air, she was too flustered to say much of anything – never mind delivering a punchline.

After a moment, Natsu glanced up from his knees and caught her staring. That prompted her to jerk her gaze away from him again, her face flaming up like a tomato. She could still feel his eyes on her though, and she only held out a few seconds before that feeling forced her to peek back at him again. Sure enough, he was still staring, and his dark eyes sent her insides into a bunch of somersaults.

He was also flushed, and the intensity of his gaze trapped her in some kind of magic spell that kept her from looking away again. It was rare to see him so focused on anything and being the target of that concentration was both unnerving and exciting.

For a second, the tension between them tightened almost painfully… but after a few breathless moments, it fizzled away.

They both relaxed a little when Natsu sent her a small awkward grin, and she felt her lips automatically twitch upwards in reply. At her response, his smile got bigger, and soon a few chuckles started sputtering out of his chest. That kickstarted her own embarrassed giggles, and suddenly she found the whole thing pretty ridiculous.

Before long, they were both laughing freely and most of the remaining pressure drained from the air.

"Jeez… that came outta nowhere…" Natsu finally huffed as he spluttered to a stop.

"It's probably because we came back here."

"You think?"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah… I was a little nervous about it earlier, but I didn't want to say anything…"

"Why not?"

"Because… I wanted to be alone with you, and this seemed like the best place to do it…"

That confession made her cheeks heat up again, and she immediately wondered if she shouldn't have said anything. Natsu's eyes widened and he sucked in a gasp of air – unfortunately swallowing wrong in the process and choking. He flushed as well, but Lucy suspected that only part of it was from his sudden coughing fit.

"Uh… yeah, maybe don't say stuff like that right now, Luce… kinda having enough trouble as it is…"

Her blush got ten times hotter, and she quickly stammered, "N-No! I just meant… to TALK! I just wanted to… I didn't want anyone else to… I… UGH! Jeez Natsu…! Why did you have to make it awkward?!"

He busted into a round of laughs that tangled up with his leftover hacking.

"Wow… you're so red!" he giggled, and Lucy resisted the urge to go over there and smack him.

"Hey! Don't make fun of me!"

"I can't help it…!" he snickered. "You look like a tomato!"

"Oh yeah? Well I'm not the only one who's been blushing, you know!" she growled, giving him a stiff glare and bristling with indignation and embarrassment.

"Huh?"

She pointed at him, feeling just a little smug and self-righteous as she proclaimed, "You're blushing too!"

"Well yeah…. _Duh_. That's what's supposed to happen, right? When you're in love and stuff?"

If her redness had been decreasing at all, it immediately came back in full force at his mention of 'love' and she got flustered again.

"I guess so… yeah…" she somewhat weakly replied, feeling a little lightheaded as all of her irritation drained away.

After a little pause, Natsu chuckled and said, "It's gonna take us a while to get used to this, huh?"

Lucy huffed a soft laugh of her own at his casual delivery…. she suspected that he could probably talk about the most embarrassing, flustering, awkward things as calmly as discussing the weather. Not having filters or any sense of shame sure did come in handy sometimes.

"Probably," she agreed, swallowing thickly and shooting him a wobbly smile. "We're both new to it after all."

"Yeah! You can say that again!" he laughed, and then tapered off into silence.

For a minute or so, there was a lull in the conversation, and then Natsu cleared his throat and said, "Well… anyway…. Brandish was cool. I think she'll make a good replacement."

Lucy latched onto the new topic eagerly and quickly agreed. "She is cool…. She's probably one of my oldest friends."

"Really?"

"Yeah, she's the daughter of my mom's handmaid – who was also my nanny – so we practically grew up together. Then, when we got old enough, she became my handmaid."

"Woah, awesome. So is she the scary maid?"

"No, that's Aquarius. She's only been my maid for about a year now."

"Huh, kinda ballsy for the new maid to have a nasty attitude."

"Ha! Yeah, that's definitely one way to describe her. She's very confident and strong-willed and has that '_I know better than you_' thing down pat. But she still cares, even if it's really hard to tell sometimes. She really is just like a bossy, grumpy aunt or older sister…." Lucy said with a chuckle.

Unfortunately, that mental path eventually led to her thinking about how she would have to leave Brandy and Aquarius soon, and she felt her mood droop back down to where it had been earlier in the evening. She wondered how long it would be like this, with the smallest thought making her sad and depressed – even when she'd been happy and laughing just a few seconds before. It was giving her emotional whiplash and making her feel very unstable.

Natsu obviously picked up on the shift because he frowned at her and asked, "Everything okay?"

She forced a smile on her face to try and hide the sudden sadness. "I'm fine… I was just…"

When she trailed off, he gave her a look that plainly said, '_oh really?_'

"Sorry, it's just hard to imagine myself leaving them…"

He didn't look surprised at all. "Yeah, I figured that's what was wrong. You've been doin' that all day."

"Getting suddenly sad out of nowhere?"

He nodded, and she heaved a sigh, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her chin on her knees.

"Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to get away from Father, but… I'm dreading the rest. I'm going to miss them so much… Aquarius, Brandy, Yajima, Mey-Rin, Baldroy, Professor Ribbon, Tanaka… they're my _family_. I love them."

Natsu nodded and softly said, "I get that…. my guildmates are my family now, and there's no way I could leave them."

There was a long pause as she sniffled a little. Today had been such a roller coaster of ups and downs that she didn't know what to do with herself. Too many things were changing at once and her emotions were a complete and utter mess.

It was so quiet and she was so focused on sorting through her feelings that she jumped when Natsu suddenly burst out with, "Hey! You can come back and visit them though! Right?"

"Right…" she chuckled weakly, laughing at her own expense for being so easily startled.

"Yeah, see? So cheer up."

She nodded and tried to get her runaway emotions under control. Natsu was right, she could come back and visit someday…. this didn't have to be goodbye forever.

…

.

…

Meanwhile, Natsu was literally sitting on his hands to keep himself from reaching for her.

Today had been murder, and he'd hated watching her get sad over and over again. If there was one thing he was quickly finding out about this love thing, it was that he couldn't stand to see Lucy miserable. He hated watching her cry – though he figured he'd probably better get used to that, since she kinda did it a lot.

But he didn't blame her. Of course she'd be having a rough time… her whole life was flipping over on its ass. He'd gone through the same kinda thing when he had to leave his home, so he knew just how bad it sucked. Which was another big reason why he was so freaking desperate to cheer her up… 'cause he knew _exactly_ how much she was hurting.

It was driving him totally nuts that he couldn't do anything to make her feel better. He was dying to hug her, but he _couldn't._ Ever since things got weird and romantic for a second there, he'd been having a crazy hard time keeping his hands to himself. If he touched her at all right now, there was a really good chance that he'd do stuff he wasn't supposed to, and he refused to be _that_ guy.

He wouldn't become a cheater…. he was gonna do the right thing by both Lisanna and Lucy, even if it killed him.

Not being able to touch her seriously limited the ways he could comfort her though, 'cause Natsu wasn't the best with words. He was way more of a _doer_ than a _talker_, but he guessed he'd just have to suck it up and try his best.

Thankfully she'd already brightened up a little when he reminded her that they could come back and visit, and he patted himself on the back for actually saying something right for once. But just that wasn't enough for him. He wanted to take her mind completely off her problems so she could be happy again, and he started wracking his brains for something that could do that.

He spit out the first thing that he thought of – which ended up being, "You've got lots of stuff to look forward to! We're gonna go on tons of fun adventures!"

"Adventures?"

"Yeah! You can go on missions with me, and we'll travel around and see lots of cool stuff! It's gonna be great!"

When her eyes got all glassy and she started smiling, he knew he was onto something. She sounded a lot happier when she said, "I would love that… I've always wanted to travel and see other places."

Then she frowned and asked, "But what do you mean by 'missions?'"

He winced and kicked himself. Yeah… that maybe hadn't been the best thing to say… but he figured he could tell her a little without giving away the whole story.

"I said I was in a guild didn't I? People give us missions and stuff."

Her eyes got all sparkly. "What kind of missions?"

Suddenly, he remembered that she'd said she loved stories, and he grinned as he came up with a plan to completely distract her.

"All kinds! People come to us with problems, and we fix them. Like, this one time there was a kingdom that was being overrun with giant moles, and they asked us to exterminate them."

"What?! Seriously? What happened?"

Just like he'd hoped, she was sucked into the story, and he started telling her all about it – though he left out anything she shouldn't know. He told her about other missions he'd gone on too, and ones that his friends had taken.

After a while of that she asked, "So are you on a mission now? Is that what brought you here?"

"Yeah, but it's not urgent. I can come back later and do it some other time."

"What was it?"

"Can't tell ya, it's top secret," he said with a grin, and she pouted.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_"Unfortunately I must decline." _

_Lucy's heart was racing in her chest as she said 'no' to her father for the very first time, and she was a little worried she might pass out from hyperventilation. That would be a fine way to stand up herself… not. _

_The unbridled fury in her father's eyes rose to a level she'd never seen before, and she almost buckled under the fear that tried to pound her into the ground. Thankfully the adrenaline that flooded her body made her a little loopy and helped keep the terror down to a dull roar._

* * *

Well, well, well... it looks next chapter is gonna be a doozy. ;D


	11. CH 11: Defiance with a Side of Ouch

**Author's Note:**

Hello peeps! It's time for a new chappie! ;D

As always, HUGE thanks to all my AMAZING reviewers. Big hugs and kisses to: savwafair, stranger1999, Bugseey, sakshishetty3003, SistershoOk, ABT4Life, valerioux, BlazingFringe, Starstruck-MJ, AshleighLeeann17, , Jedi Jelsa777, and NarukoSon.

Alrighty, on with the show!

* * *

As usual, Natsu had been able to bring Lucy out of her funk last night. He'd told her amazing stories that captured her imagination, and she ended up coming home late because of it… and of course got thoroughly scolded by Aquarius. But it had been completely worth it. For a while at least, her mind had been taken off her troubles and she'd been able to forget all the sadness that had been plaguing her.

She was able to stay happy for the rest of that night and most of the next day… up until her father summoned her to his study and told her that he had planned another private dinner with a suitor for the following day.

"Tomorrow?" she'd weakly repeated, feeling disappointment settle heavily on her shoulders.

Naturally, that was when she'd planned to meet Natsu and hand out food, so once again she would have to miss those things and spend a miserable evening with people she hated.

"Yes, and I expect you to be on your best behavior. Prince Doranbolt could prove to be a very good match. I'm sure a political marriage with the kingdom of Saffron would greatly increase our trade in magical items."

"I see. Is there anything else?"

His lips pinched together but he didn't say anything about her slightly rude response. "No, that is all. You may go."

She spun on her heel and marched stiffly out of the room without saying another word. Her father was such a jerk and she was happy to get away from him.

…

For the rest of Monday, she sulked and thought about how she was going to deal with tomorrow's dinner.

The plan she eventually came up with was simple and affective… essentially she just wouldn't talk to whoever showed up. She also didn't intend to stick around after eating. There was no way she was going to be trapped in that parlor again, waiting by herself while her father and suitor were in another room haggling over the price to marry her.

It was something she'd never had the guts to try before, but now things had changed. Making up her mind to leave had given her a major confidence boost where her father was concerned… maybe to a level that wasn't technically smart. She recognized that it had made her a little cocky, because she knew that soon she wouldn't ever have to see his face again… so it didn't really matter anymore if she made him angry. It was also probably only natural that a rebellious streak had come awake alongside her newfound self-assurance, and it wasn't exactly a surprise that she found herself wanting to fight back against him.

All the anger she'd bottled up over the years was finally coming out, and now she was overflowing with resentment for everything he had put her through. It was all his fault that her life had been miserable up to this point, and now she had to leave her friends and family behind because of him… why the hell would she want to do anything that would make that man happy? She was done playing along with his games and pretending that any of it was her choice.

Day 23 (Tuesday)

Her irritation lasted late into the night as well, making it difficult to sleep and definitely not doing her temper any favors. The next morning, not only was she still unhappy and angry, but she was also _tired_.

That _really_ didn't put her into the mood to socialize, and she was even more determined to not go along with her father's arrangements.

As such, when dinner finally rolled around later that evening, she put her plan into action and refused to interact with her 'guest.' Instead, she just smiled politely and stayed quiet as she watched him flounder around by himself. It wasn't her finest moment… she didn't like being rude and making Prince Doranbolt feel uncomfortable. He actually did seem like a decent guy and she felt bad for him. If given the chance, she would have liked to apologize and explain that he was just unwittingly caught up in the middle of a battle of wills between her and her father, but she doubted she would ever see him again.

Eventually, his awkward attempts to start up a conversation with her trickled to a stop – at which point her father engaged him, after shooting her a furious glare.

The atmosphere at the table was tense and uncomfortable for the rest of their meal, and that tension only increased as she continued to ignore any attempts to get her to talk. It was almost unbearable by the time the last course was placed in front of her, and at that point she couldn't stand it any longer.

She stood after barely touching her dessert and forced her voice to sound completely calm as she stated, "If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I'm afraid I have other business to attend to."

King Heartfilia's eyes were wide with shock and mounting rage as they met hers. "Lucy, sit back down this instant. Dinner isn't over yet, and I _insist_ that you entertain our guest afterwards."

"Unfortunately I must decline."

Lucy's heart was racing in her chest as she said 'no' to her father for the very first time, and she was a little worried she might pass out from hyperventilation. That would be a fine way to stand up herself… _not_.

The unbridled fury in her father's eyes rose to a level she'd never seen before, and she almost buckled under the fear that tried to pound her into the ground. Thankfully the adrenaline that flooded her body made her a little loopy and helped keep the terror down to a dull roar.

"Lucy Heartfilia…" Jude growled, his voice trembling and low with malice.

Somehow, she managed to paste a smile on her lips, despite them feeling somewhat numb. And then, she curtsied and turned, walking out of the dining room with her head held high.

"GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!"

At the bellow, she barely suppressed a flinch and refused to look back at what was probably a terrifying sight. Instead, she kept walking and exited the room with all her dignity intact. As soon as she was out of sight though, she nearly collapsed, panting hard for breath and feeling sweat trickle in thick lines down her neck and chest. Her legs felt wobbly and weak, and she almost had to sit down right then and there, but a quick hand to the wall helped her regain her balance. The stone was cool against her skin as she pressed her forehead to it, taking some deeper breaths to steady herself.

So much for being cocky…

Everything was trembling inside her, and she couldn't tell if she was giddy, terrified, or numb. A small giggle escaped her throat, quickly followed by a snort as she realized that she probably sounded unhinged.

After a short rest, she shook herself back together and hastily headed towards her chambers. The last thing she wanted right now was for her father to find her so easily if he came looking for her. He would have to summon her if he wanted to speak to her, and she intended to refuse his summons… at least until she was sure that their 'guest' had left.

…

When Aquarius finally did come to her room several hours later, Lucy had already asked Brandy to help her out of the fancy dinner dress and take down her hair. She wore a simple shift dress instead and was comfortably curled up on her chaise lounge reading…. not that she'd been able to get fully engrossed in her story, since her stomach kept trying to tie itself into knots.

"Lucy… your father wants to see you."

She looked up, noting Aquarius's unusually solemn and tight expression.

"I'm sure he does," she replied evenly, forcing her voice to stay level. "Is Prince Doranbolt gone?"

"He just left a few minutes ago."

"Good." Her book snapped closed and she lightly placed it on the spindly table next to her lounge as she stood. "Then I'll come talk to him."

Aquarius nodded and accompanied her to the king's office. The doors were open for once, and his eyes snapped up to meet hers as soon as she stood in front of him. He silently waved for Aquarius to leave, and the guards closed the doors behind her. Then Lucy was left alone with her father… who was more furious than she'd ever seen him.

There was a long moment of silence so cold that she wondered how the temperature in the room remained survivable. It took all of her new strength to keep looking calm in the face of his piercing glare, and she latched her fingers together in front of her to keep them from trembling. Right now, she was very glad that looks couldn't kill, otherwise she would have been dead the instant she walked in the room.

"You wished to see me?"

He made no effort to respond and launched into his own conversation without acknowledging her question. "What precisely were you thinking?"

His tone could have cut her to the bone if it was even a tiny bit more substantial.

She took a quiet deep breath and braced herself. "As I said, I had other things to do with my time."

"What things could possibly be more important than properly courting your suitor?!" he asked, only a hair away from shouting. She also noticed that his hands gripped the edge of his desk, and it was probably the only thing keeping him in his seat.

"You've made it abundantly clear that I have nothing to do with the process of finding a husband. In fact, you essentially told me to 'butt out' the last time we conversed about it. So, as far as I'm concerned, it's a waste of my energy to have anything to do with the matter."

She was downright stunned that she'd managed to get those words out while still sounding calm. It was an incredible rush… but also terrifying.

When he abruptly stood and slammed his palms into the top of his desk, she flinched but held her ground and kept eye contact with him, even though she desperately wanted to look at anything other than his furious face.

"How DARE you be so DISRESPECTFUL?!" he roared, a blood vessel pounding in his forehead. "WHAT has gotten INTO you?!"

There wasn't really anything to say to that, so she kept quiet and just watched him heave for breath and glare at her.

After a heated moment, he snarled, "You WILL entertain the suitors I choose for you. None of them will make marriage proposals if you don't woo their interest. As I've repeatedly TOLD you… it's your DUTY to act the perfect wife… converse with them, attract them with your wiles, play music for them… whatever it takes to make them want you."

There was another poignant pause as she considered his words, and then she licked her lips and cleared her throat to make sure her voice continued to come out even and calm in the face of his fury. "Why should I? There's nothing in this arrangement that benefits me. And I'm tired of pretending that any of this is what I want."

His eyes very nearly bugged out of his head as he silently mouthed some of the words she'd just spoken. Implosion was inevitable, and she could see it coming from a mile away… building under his skin and making him nearly vibrate with rage until his blood vessels all stood in stark relief. He was out from behind the desk and stalking towards her so fast that she couldn't properly process it. Without meaning to, she began to back up, her feet registering the danger before she could make the conscious decision to hold her ground.

Halfway across the room, her brain finally kicked back into gear, and she realized that she was letting him intimidate her – which was precisely what she'd decided wouldn't happen again. So, despite her muscles shivering with fear, she dug her heels in and met him head-on. He stopped inches from her, looming and leaning in much too close.

"You think you can disobey me?" he hissed in her face, his voice soft and deadly and more chilling for the change. "I am your _father_ and your _king_. My word is _law_. You have no power… no say in any of these matters."

Though her knees felt weak, she held his lethal gaze and somehow managed to say, "Perhaps not ultimately, but I can still refuse to attend whatever functions you arrange. Unless you plan to have the guards physically drag me to the dining hall or ballroom."

That seemed to be the last straw, and she saw his control snap a second before his hand lashed out and cracked solidly across her cheek with a sound that nearly deafened her. She hadn't anticipated the blow, much less the strength behind it, and she was caught off balance and unprepared. Pain snapped through her cheek, lip, and jaw where his hand had landed, and she felt as if a bomb had exploded in her face. Her head whipped to the side and her body followed, sending her staggering a step before falling – until he yanked her to a halt by grabbing her forearm. She still went to one knee though and cradled her burning cheek with her free hand, making sure to turn her face away from him to hide the way her eyes welled up from pain.

He didn't allow that though, and yanked harder on her arm, setting her shoulder and elbow on fire as he twisted. The way he pulled made her joints scream in protest and the only way to relieve it was to stand. But even after she stood, he kept her arm at an unnatural angle, making her cringe and hunch her body to try and reduce the tension in her muscles and tendons.

It was designed to force her to cower in front of him.

As soon as she perceived that, a fire sparked to life inside her spirit. Her wavering strength returned, and though the fear and pain were still very present, they were dominated by her desire to win. For once in her life, she was finally taking a stand, and she didn't want it to stop here. She'd come so far… and she was terrified that if she broke now, she would never try again. That thought was more frightening than anything he could possibly do to her right now.

She yanked her head up and locked eyes with him, gritting her teeth against the pain. There was nothing she could do to keep tears from spilling down her cheeks, but she could still glare at him through them. He met her stare and his eyes widened again before narrowing back into a glare. His lips pinched into a thin severe line as his grip tightened even more on her forearm.

Instead of letting the pain force her body into a bow, she slowly straightened her back as much as she possibly could and strained against his hold.

"I'm surprised you're willing to damage the goods you're trying to sell…" she managed to grit out between her clenched teeth.

His eyes burned and for a long moment he held her there, both of them suspended dangerously in a frozen moment. And then, with a disgusted sound, he threw her from him, which sent her tumbling into a nearby table that held a large decorative vase.

She, the table, and the vase all crashed to the ground.

More pain shot through various parts of her body as she landed on the piece of furniture. The rounded edge broke her fall by slamming into her ribs, and she couldn't help but cry out at the blow that nearly winded her. The brief thought that she was very glad it didn't have any corners shot through her mind, but she didn't have time to think about it for long. A zap of quick agony shot through her hurt arm as she tried to stop her fall with both hands, and she ended up tumbling to her side. Her hip protested as it hit the ground, but most of her momentum had already been blunted by the table and her hands.

After everything settled and the last tinkle of broken ceramics stopped, a thick suffocating silence settled over the room. Lucy lay still, listening to her breathing and pounding heartbeat as she took inventory of the various aches throbbing throughout her body in the aftermath. She didn't think her arm was broken, but it definitely hurt, and she was going to have some fantastic bruises on her side.

When she gingerly raised her head to look at the situation, she noted with relief that the vase had been thrown far enough away that its broken remains hadn't sliced her up. Unfortunately, when she gingerly pushed herself into a sitting position, one lone shard cut her palm. She hissed and flinched a little at the unpleasant surprise and jerked her hand up to eye the thin line of blood oozing there. After staring at it blankly for a moment, she sighed and dropped her palm back to the ground as she carefully maneuvered her legs under her so she could stand.

She stayed facing away from her father for a moment after getting to her feet and took the time to shake any remaining debris out of her skirts. Then, with a deep bracing breath, she turned to face him… the sound of one ceramic shard crunching under her shoe echoing eerily through the quiet room.

Jude Heartfilia still stood in the same place, glaring at her and huffing puffing like a train.

His face was just a tight mask of anger at first, but as his eyes darted from her to the table and broken vase, shock and disgust took over his expression. He visibly wrestled his temper back under control, obviously not happy about losing it like that.

For a long moment, they faced off across the distance that he'd thrown her… the silence between them thick and uncomfortable. At this point, there wasn't much for either of them to say.

With a few light tugs, he had straightened his clothes and put himself back together, and then his face turned into a mask of cold, angry stone. He spun on his heel and returned to sit behind his desk, once again looking the part of a king ruling his kingdom instead of an out-of-control parent raging at his child.

"It seems that I've wasted my money on tutors, since you apparently don't have the mental capacity to understand basic things. Such a shame… your mother had both beauty and intellect. It's unfortunate you couldn't be more like her. _She _fulfilled her roll with grace and dignity."

Her heart clenched at his carefully tailored barb, and she barely controlled her wince. Before she could say anything in retaliation though, he was continuing.

"Let me make this simple so that you can understand it. Everything you have is something that I've given to you. Your freedom to come and go at will from this castle, your monetary allowance, your current accommodations, even your maids… all of that can be revoked. I can make it so that you never leave your chamber again until your wedding day. If pressed, I might even lock you away in a cell."

The thought of being imprisoned sent a splinter of fear through her, and she tensed, realizing that there were lines here that shouldn't be crossed. And yet, somehow it got even worse.

Her father leveled an even and confident stare at her, one smug enough that she knew he had an ace up his sleeve. "And, as I understand it, you are quite fond of certain staff members. None of the people who work in this castle are irreplaceable. With just a few words, I can have anyone dismissed and make it _very_ hard for them to find another job in this kingdom. Do you understand?"

Ice settled in her chest, and she gritted her teeth, knowing that this round went to him. There was no way she would risk what he was currently threatening, so she would have to tread more lightly around him.

Frustration coated her insides, making her stomach feel sour with it, and her nails bit into the cut on her palm as she clenched her fists. Though she had spent most of her life angry at this man, right now she couldn't remember a single time she'd hated him more fiercely.

"I see," she snapped, her voice tight and clipped.

He smiled, though there was nothing pleasant about the expression and it quickly melted back into his normal carefully controlled mask. "Good. I'm glad we understand each other."

She glared at him for a few more seconds and then spun on her heel, sending a few ceramic pieces skittering across the floor.

"Then, if that's all you have to say to me, I'll be on my way."

"Very well. Just remember this conversation for the future."

"Oh, I will…." she hissed under her breath as she finished stalking out of the room.

Aquarius and Brandy were both waiting for her on the other side of the door, and she saw their eyes widen when they spotted the bruise already turning dark on her cheek. Without saying a word, they sandwiched her between them and walked her back to her room.

A few minutes into the walk, Lucy's rage turned to tears, and she was desperately grateful that Aquarius's glare could scare off anyone who stared too long at her.

…

.

…

Meanwhile, Natsu was sitting on her balcony again, waiting impatiently for her to get back to her room. He was cross-legged and his knees kept bouncing as he silently hurried her up. Since she hadn't shown up today, he figured she'd probably had another situation with her father and/or one of the jerks that wanted to marry her.

It made him antsy and itchy.

So when the door opened, he shot to his feet and almost barreled into the room without thinking. He skidded to a halt in front of the glass door with a cuss though when he saw Brandish and the blue-haired maid with her.

"Damnitall…" he hissed as he skipped back a couple steps.

Lucy shouted, "Damn it!" at the same time, and he twitched and stared through the glass in surprise.

For a crazy second he thought she was answering him, but then he quickly realized that she had other stuff on her mind.

Every muscle in his body tensed up as he got a good look at her, and his palms became dangerously hot. She had a huge shiner on her cheek where someone had obviously hit her – hard – and her clothes were all fucked up and ripped in a few places. A red stain on her skirt got his attention real quick, and then he saw the nasty black and blue bruise on her forearm in the clear shape of a hand.

She was crying and her eyes were wild as she screamed, "Damn it!" again. Her sobs looked downright painful, and she obviously couldn't catch her breath because she was gasping for it.

The two maids let her go when she yanked away from them, and she staggered over to the chair in front of a table piled high with makeup and other girly shit. Her hands clamped down on the back of the chair and she leaned hard against it, nearly bent double like she was gonna puke. Then she flinched and yanked her bruised arm back against her.

After a second, she seemed to lose her strength and sank to the floor behind the chair as her sobs got even harder. She ended up on her knees with her arms wrapped around her middle like she was trying to hold herself together… or like her ribs were killing her.

"Shit," he spat, and as soon as the shock wore off he started moving.

He busted through the glass doors and was halfway across the room before he'd decided to do it.

"What the… who are you?!" the blue-haired woman barked.

"That's Natsu… he's Lucy's secret boyfriend," Brandy replied, and he didn't bother to correct her.

"WHAT?! She has a boyfriend?! And he's been sneaking into her room?!"

He ignored all the screeching, because his attention was totally focused on Lucy. He reached her in a few seconds and immediately slammed down on his knees next to her.

"Lucy … hey … what happened?" he asked, trying to make his voice gentle even though he felt like committing murder.

She just shook her head, so he turned to the other two and demanded, "What the fuck happened?!"

The blue-haired one was shooting him super nasty looks, but he didn't even give a damn.

"I don't know who you think you are, but you're trespassing in this castle, and if you don't leave _immediately_ I'm going to call the guards."

"Don't."

Lucy's soft voice drew all their attention, and the crazy one pursed her lips like she'd just sucked on a lemon. Then she shot Natsu a disgusted look and sighed, "Fine. I'll deal with you myself then."

With a wave of her arms, she summoned arcs of water outta nowhere, and Natsu felt his eyes widen with surprise. Before he had time to dodge, a jet of water punched him in the face and knocked him away from Lucy. He managed to flip around and land on his feet, but immediately had to throw himself to the side to avoid the next shot.

While he was still on the ground, another bullet of water hit him, this time in the stomach, and it sent him skidding right outta the door onto the balcony. He slammed into the stone railing and his head cracked back against it, making him see stars.

He was really tempted to fight back, but he knew that Lucy wouldn't like it if he hurt her maid so he held back.

He dodged again as another shot of water came at him, trying to knock him right over the balcony probably, and he sent the crazy woman a nasty look. This psycho water mage better ease up a bit, or shit was gonna go down. His body temperature was already dangerously high and he was having a tough time keeping it under control.

Before he could make a stupid mistake, Lucy interrupted them again. "Stop! Both of you… just… stop fighting… please."

The water mage scowled at her. "Either I get rid of him, or I'm calling the guards, and you already said no to that. So make up your mind!" she snapped, and Natsu growled, wanting to tell her to leave off. Lucy already looked like she was broken, she didn't need anyone yelling at her right now.

"Fine…" Lucy grumbled, and then she looked at him and he felt himself shudder at the sight of her puffy wet face. "Natsu, please just go. We'll talk tomorrow."

He gritted his teeth, fighting down the urge to tell her, 'no way in hell.' But it was obvious that he was causing her problems, and that wasn't what he wanted to be doing right now. She looked miserable enough as it was.

So he backed off, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do.

Throwing his hands up to show he surrendered, he grumbled, "Alright, alright… I'll leave."

He shot another nasty look at the blue-haired mage, and then turned and hopped over the balcony.

"Hmph, good riddance," she said from above him and he heard the glass doors close.

"Yeah right… like I'm just gonna up and go like that…" he muttered under his breath, and eyeballed the scenery for a place to hide until the maids had gone.

As far as he could tell, the only place to hide from the guards was on her balcony, so he turned back around and climbed up the wall again. Before he jumped onto the actual balcony though, he carefully poked his head over the railing to see if anyone was near the doors. He grinned when he saw the closed curtains and thought to himself that the crazy maid had done him a favor.

Without wasting any time, he heaved himself over the railing and snuck up to the doors, listening close so that he could jump off the balcony again if he heard anyone coming. Thankfully their voices were muffled – which told him they were away from the glass – and that made him feel like it was safe enough to get right up against the doors.

He got as close as he could and hunted all over to find a little crack in the curtains that he could peek through. When he finally found one, it was kinda close to the ground and he ended up in a really awkward crouched position, but he didn't really care as long as it let him look into the room. All he could see were the lower half of their legs as they walked around, but it gave him something to do as he waited for Lucy to be alone.

He also strained his ears to try and hear what they were talking about, and from what he could tell, it sounded like that blue-haired maid was giving Lucy some kinda intense lecture. Damn, that woman was scary… she was almost as fierce as Erza… and he felt bad for Lucy and kinda pissed at the maid for fussing at her right now.

He caught most of what she was saying, because her voice was so freakin' loud, but he couldn't hear a lot of what Lucy said in reply.

"- isn't your boyfriend then who is he?!... … … What?! You mean he's not even from around here?! … … … Well who is he? Where's he from? What's he doing here? … … … You haven't asked him for details?! … … … That's no excuse! How do you know he's not here to kidnap you?! … … … You don't know that! He could be playing you! You're an easy target because you're so inexperienced! … … … All of that could easily be lies … … … I don't trust him! … … … Be quiet, Brandish! … … … Of course I don't trust him! I don't know him! … …. … Are you sure? He didn't seem like he was acting? … … …"

Apparently Brandy was speaking up for him, and he thanked his lucky stars that he'd met her. The fussy one seemed to believe her more than Lucy, which kinda seemed unfair. But he wasn't really angry with her anymore, 'cause the longer he listened, the more he could tell that she really did care a lot about Lucy and was just worried about her. Again, she reminded him of Erza and all the times she'd scolded him when he messed up.

When he actually thought about it, he finally figured out that this had to be that cranky aunt person… '_Query Oz_,' or whatever her name was. She fit the bill perfectly: pissy, bossy, and weirdly caring.

After a while she calmed down a little, and he had to really struggle to keep listening in. Eventually it bugged him enough that he very, very carefully reached up and cracked the door just a hair so he could keep eavesdropping.

"- both sure that he's someone who can be trusted… then I suppose there's nothing more to say. But you should still be careful."

"I know, I know…" Lucy mumbled, sounding super tired.

There was a pause, then he saw her dress drop to the ground and she stepped out of it. The silence after that was so thick that he could feel the tension from outside, and he figured she must've just uncovered another bruise. He desperately wished he could see higher up than her knees so he could eyeball it too, but since he couldn't do that, he got even closer to the crack and strained even harder to hear what they were saying.

Brandish was quiet, but after a second Aquarius hissed, "What happened?"

She sounded like she wanted to do some serious damage to whoever hurt Lucy, and he was right there with her.

"I fell."

"Onto _**what**_? It looks like someone took a bat to your ribs."

Natsu winced in sympathy and felt his rage reach an all-time high. Someone had really beat the shit outta Lucy and he desperately wanted to do ten times as much damage to them.

It took Lucy a second, but she finally said, "I knocked over a table and landed on the rim."

"Ah, that explains it."

Then things went quiet again, and he figured they were probably bandaging her up or something.

That hunch turned out to be right when he heard Aquarius ask Brandish to get her a poultice.

"Um… we're running low, Mistress… should I make a note to buy more?"

Natsu's eyebrow cocked at the way Brandish talked to the older woman. That definitely wasn't something he'd expected, but he shrugged it off and kept focusing on the conversation.

"Of course!" Aquarius snapped, and then fussed at Lucy, "If you'd just let your wrist heal, we wouldn't have used so much!"

Lucy immediately protested. "I didn't have a choice! Father insisted that I keep playing violin, and I couldn't just stop handing out food!"

"Pushing that heavy cart around with a sprained wrist was just idiotic."

"But I didn't! Natsu has pushed it for me ever since we met."

"Hmph… well at least he's been useful for something."

A second later, she added, "And how long have you known him exactly?"

"Three weeks now."

"Tsk, and you think you're in love with him already? A few weeks isn't long enough to tell the difference between infatuation and lasting love."

"I know the difference between a crush and love," Lucy snapped, actually sounding irritated.

He blinked and then grinned, now even more interested in this conversation. He was eager to hear what she thought about him.

"Oh really? And exactly _how_ do you know such a thing when you've never experienced either before?"

"I _have_ experienced both! I had a crush on him first, and then it deepened into love!"

"And how do you know it didn't just deepen into a stronger infatuation?" Aquarius scoffed.

"Well maybe it did, but it would have to be a _very_ strong infatuation if that was the case."

"I'm still unconvinced. Infatuations _can_ be very strong."

And then Lucy launched into a list that had Natsu's eyes nearly popping out of his skull and his heart racing.

"I can't stop thinking about him… and when we're together, I'm so aware of him that I feel tingly all over. Sometimes it feels like I can't catch my breath or my heart is going to explode because it's beating so fast. And I blush and get flustered at the smallest things – he can just touch my hand and I'm a complete mess."

"That all sounds like infatuation. I haven't heard anything that suggests love yet."

Lucy made a frustrated sound that would have made Natsu laugh if his heart wasn't pounding in his ears.

"Alright! Then how about this?! He makes me happier than I've ever been! He makes me laugh! _**Really**_ laugh! And I haven't laughed like that in what feels like forever. I love being around him, because he's always happy. He's always smiling and laughing…. The only times I've ever seen him really upset are when _I've_ been hurt or upset by something."

She paused to take a huge breath that even he could hear outside the door, and then she kept at it, apparently trying to list every single thing she felt about him in one go.

"Sure, he annoys the heck out of me sometimes… he can be insanely dumb and impulsive, and he has the patience and attention span of a gnat… but I can't ever stay mad at him for long, because then he'll do something ridiculous that makes me smile. He just says whatever pops into his head and does whatever he wants. It's so refreshing to be around someone who's completely honest and just _themselves_. I love that about him. I love that he doesn't have any frills and doesn't try to hide who he is or what he wants. You know exactly what you're getting when you deal with him."

She laughed breathlessly and then gulped in some more air before continuing her rant.

"It almost feels like we've known each other for years. Being with him is as easy as breathing, because I totally trust him, and just being around him makes me feel comfortable and safe. When we're together I feel like nothing can hurt me. I can't explain how _right_ it feels to be with him… like we were _meant_ to be together. I've never put much stock in soul mates, but that's literally what it feels like. I just… if I don't love him, I don't know what's going on, because that's the only possible explanation I can come up with for how I feel about him."

And then she finally seemed to be done, because she stopped talking and started panting.

He guessed that she really cared a lot about Aquarius too, because it was obvious that she wanted the grumpy woman's blessing or something.

As for him, he also felt a little out of breath, like she'd just winded him. He didn't really know what to think about some of the things she'd said about him… he kinda felt like he should be insulted about her calling him dumb and stuff, but somehow he wasn't. Mostly he just thought it was funny because she'd nailed him down perfectly. It was pretty impressive how well she knew him already.

But overall, he was just blown away by how she felt about him. Hearing that he made her so happy – and all the other awesome things she'd said – made him almost wanna cry, and he didn't even know why. He wasn't really used to tearing up over good stuff, but right now he was definitely a little wet around the eyes.

His attention snapped back to them when Aquarius sighed and said, "Alright… you've convinced me. It really does look like you've fallen in love with this man. I just hope he returns your feelings and doesn't betray you."

"He won't. He's not that kind of person."

"If you say so."

There was another awkward pause, and then Aquarius suddenly asked, "I suppose you intend to run away with him before your father marries you off?"

Natsu jerked, shocked by how perceptive this woman was.

"… yes." Lucy finally responded softly. "He's told me that he can take me somewhere where I'll be safe from my father."

"Anywhere outside of Lampro Capnia would probably work… but if anyone found out who you really are, you could be in danger of being caught. The king will likely put out a bounty for your return."

"Yeah… I'll have to be very careful, that's for sure."

"You definitely will. But for now, you should go ahead and rest."

Apparently they'd finished dealing with Lucy's injuries, because he saw the bottom of her nightgown drop down to her ankles. And suddenly Natsu was very antsy and eager to get in there and talk to her himself. He held his breath as the maids fussed around for a little while, and then everything in him tensed up as he saw their feet head towards the door. It was out of his sight though, so he had to wait and listen hard for the click of it opening and closing.

As soon as he heard it, he cracked the balcony door open a little more and peeked through the curtains, checking to make sure they'd actually left. He launched into the room when he decided that the coast was clear… and that startled a yelp from Lucy, who'd already gotten in bed. She sat up super-fast and then winced and groaned, grabbing her side where he'd bet she had that big bruise Aquarius was talking about.

"N-Natsu!? What are you doing back here?!" she hissed, her eyes shooting to the closed door.

"Come on, Lucy, I wasn't just gonna leave without finding out what happened," he snorted, thinking she was weird for thinking anything else.

She sighed and gave him a look that was equally tired, pissed, and amused. "You're such a handful…"

He grinned and shot back, "But that's what you love about me right?"

For a second she started to laugh, but then her eyes went wide and she choked. "Uh… how long have you been outside? Did you hear us talking?"

Ah. That explained why she looked so freaked out. She'd just realized that he overheard her little rant.

He huffed a breath and rolled his eyes up to check out the ceiling for a second, wondering if there was any particular way he should say this. Coming up with nothing, he shrugged to himself and figured he'd just say it and see what happened.

He dropped his gaze back down to her so he could watch her reaction and said, "Yeah, I heard you."

She immediately turned bright red and her eyes flicked off to the side as she bit her lip.

"… oh…" she finally squeaked, and he felt his lips twitching with a smile that he figured was a little inappropriate right now.

Instead of chuckling, he cleared his throat and said, "If it makes ya feel any better… I feel the same."

Then he quickly checked himself and tacked on, "Well, except for thinking you're dumb and impulsive and stuff."

She turned even redder and her big eyes shot back to him as she started waving her arms around. That made her flinch though and she quickly stopped and cradled one arm against her chest.

"I didn't… I wasn't… I didn't intend to… I didn't mean that you…. I… uh…" she stammered, obviously freaked out, and this time he couldn't hold back his snort of amusement. She was just too damn silly.

"Yeah you did, and I don't blame ya. I know I can be real stupid sometimes, so it's cool."

He shrugged and smiled, and then he let his grin get wider and impulsively added, "Anyways, you've got your bad habits too, ya know. Like…. you overthink everything and make stuff way too complicated. And you blame yourself for everything even when it's not your fault – you gotta stop doin' that by the way – and you beat yourself up way too much. And uh… let's see…. Oh yeah! You've got a violent streak, but I kinda like that so I don't really think it's a bad thing.…"

He trailed off and squinted, trying to think of anything else to add.

During the pause, she huffily asked, "Anything else?"

At that, he looked at her and almost busted out laughing, 'cause she was pouting so hard he wondered how her cheeks hadn't exploded. She'd puffed them out and was pursing her lips at him. He had the sudden urge to lightly slap his hands on her cheeks and see if all that air would make a '_pththttoo_' sound as it came outta her mouth.

But of course he wouldn't 'cause she had a big bandage taking up one whole cheek… and that reminded him why he was here.

When the smile dropped off his face, she stopped pouting and shot him a concerned look.

That was another thing about Lucy that he loved… she always seemed to be really in tune with his moods. He was kinda amazed by it actually.

"So what happened?"

She blinked, and then shook her head. "What do you – oh. You mean tonight?"

He nodded as she lightly touched her bruised cheek.

"I'd rather keep talking about my bad qualities than talk about that," she groaned, rolling her eyes. "Why the sudden change of topic?"

He shrugged, and then his feet had carried him over to the bed and he was plopping down on the foot of it. She flinched and pulled her legs up to sit cross-legged at the head so he had more room.

"I dunno. You were pouting, and your cheeks were all puffed up… and the bandage caught my attention."

She sighed and frowned, leaning her head back against the big-ass fancy headboard behind her.

When she didn't say anything for a while, he scooted closer to her and leaned in. "Well, how about who did this to you?"

Her lips pinched together and she glanced to the side again, like she couldn't hold his stare.

"Luuucy… _please_ talk to me. I'm goin' crazy over here. Was it one of your suitors? Did someone try to force a kiss on you or something? Come on, please tell me what happened or I'm gonna explode."

At first he didn't think she was gonna respond, but then she took a breath and he leaned forward some more, listening close.

"… It was my father. He…" she winced and her hand came back up to cover her bandaged cheek, like she was remembering it.

Meanwhile Natsu was seeing red. The thought had occurred to him that it might've been her dad, but he hadn't wanted to think that she'd been dealing with physical abuse as well as emotional.

But he knew that getting mad wasn't going to make her wanna talk to him, so he forced his voice to stay steady as he asked, "What'd he do?"

"He backhanded me," she said simply, still refusing to look at him… like she was ashamed or something.

"And your arm?"

"He stopped me from falling by grabbing my arm."

Another little explosion went off in his head and he had to take a couple of deep breaths to keep his shit together. If she'd been _falling_, then that bastard had hit her _hard_.

After clearing his throat a couple of times, he risked asking, "And I'm guessing he didn't grab you just to keep you from falling. So what'd he do next?"

She sucked in a deep breath and then let it out in a quick puff that sounded really stressed. Her eyes met his for a few seconds, and then she leaned her head back against the headboard again and closed her eyes.

The next time she spoke, her voice was resigned but a bit steadier… like she'd decided that she was okay with talking to him about this.

"You would be right about that. He yanked me back to my feet and then twisted my arm, which kept me off balance."

Then she paused and her lips curved up into a smirk that surprised him. "He didn't win though."

He blinked, realizing he was seeing something in her he hadn't before. She'd definitely gotten a lot more confident, and he wondered if it came from the fact that she was finally planning to leave this hellhole. He was eager to see more of that side of her, but first he wanted to hear about what her asshole of a dad had done to her.

"So what happened then?"

She shrugged like it wasn't a big deal, but the way she crinkled up her nose said it was. "He threw me across the room. I crashed into a table, and it fell over with me on top of it. A huge vase fell too, but most of the pieces ended up away from me. I cut my hand on one shard though when I got back up."

She raised her hand and he eyeballed the bandage on her palm. Once again he could feel his temperature rising as he got madder and madder, but somehow he forced it back down.

"Did he do anything else to you?" he quietly asked, hating how his voice came out too tense. He definitely sounded like he wanted to kill someone, and that was kinda what he'd been trying not to do.

She cracked an eye to look at him, and then both eyes popped open and her head tilted down again so she could fully eyeball him. Her surprised and slightly frightened expression told him he needed to tone down the murderous vibe a bit, and he glanced away from her and focused on his breathing for a second to chill out.

A thought popped into his head while he was trying to calm down, and he almost asked if her hurt wrist had been her dad's doing too, but he stopped himself at the last second. With the way he was feeling right now, he figured he didn't need any more fuel for the fire. He was pretty sure he knew the answer anyways.

After chilling out a minute or two, he cleared his throat again and managed to ask pretty calmly, "So uh… what started this whole thing anyways? What got your old man so pissed?"

"Ah…. Well, Father decided to throw another dinner party, and I finally decided to stop going along with it."

Natsu whirled back around to look at her in shock, and when he saw her smug grin he nearly felt giddy. "That's awesome! Come on, give me more, what'd you do to fuck up dinner?!"

She snickered and the light in her eyes came back. "Basically I refused to talk. Prince Doranbolt didn't know what to do, and I just watched as he kept struggling to start a conversation…. I kind of felt bad for him actually."

He could just imagine it… some idiot making dumb chitchat and getting freaked out by Lucy's silence. The idea was so funny that he busted out laughing, and Lucy joined him.

She sputtered though her chuckles, "A-and then, at the end of the meal, I stood up and said I had other things to do. I thought my father was going to have a heart attack right then and there… he was so shocked and mad."

"Serves him right," Natsu guffawed.

Lucy grinned and nodded, but then she frowned a little and got a look that said she was thinking about something unpleasant… probably what'd happened after that.

"Once Prince Doranbolt left, Father called me to his office to give me a talking to, but he lost his temper when I refused to give in. I'm sure he expected a series of apologies and 'yes sirs' like I've always given him… but tonight I told him what I really thought."

"What'd you say?"

"I basically told him that I wasn't benefiting from this arrangement and I had no reason to continue. I said that he'd already made it clear I didn't have a say in any of it, so he could just find a husband for me without my help."

Then she sighed and drooped, and that new confidence she'd been radiating went away.

Natsu felt his eyebrows knot into a frown as he remembered how upset she'd been when she came into her room. Something had definitely happened to make her unhappy, and he had a hunch it wasn't just getting beat up.

"Did he do something worse than…" he gestured at her body, waving his hand up and down to get everything in the sweep.

"I handled the physical punishment fairly well actually." She paused and huffed a dark little laugh. "I even told him I was surprised he would hurt what he was trying to sell."

All the air in his throat somehow made a knot that he swallowed wrong, and suddenly he was choking on nothing as he tried to figure out what the hell his body was trying to do… laugh, cough, die, suck in air, or all of the above at the same time.

"Holy shi-it… tha-at's an awso-ome comeba-ack…" he sputtered around coughs and laughs.

Her lips quirked and he saw her eyes sparkle for a few seconds before they got dull again. "Thank you… though it was all pointless in the end."

"What do ya mean?"

"He had a trump card I wasn't expecting… though I honestly should have seen it coming."

She sighed again, and he wondered if that much sighing would hurt her throat or something. "I anticipated his threat to lock me up, but I was blindsided when he threatened to fire the staff I'm close to just to punish me. And not only that… he also said that he would make it so they couldn't get another job here… which means they would have to move to another kingdom just to make a living."

His jaw dropped, and for a second his mind went totally blank. Then he felt his brain go '_kaboom_' and fury exploded in him as he finally absorbed the stunning information. What was with this guy?! Did he just like being a professional asshole?!

Natsu didn't think he'd ever met anyone who was so totally fucked up, and another urge to go find her old man and do some serious damage struck him upside the head. He'd give just about anything to punch the jerk's lights out… maybe throw him through a couple of walls… or just drop the whole fucking castle down on top of him… that might be fun. Violent fantasies of tearing him apart, pulverizing him, and burning him to a crisp warred in his head.

But then Lucy flinched back, and he realized he was giving off really bad vibes again. Eventually he'd have to show her the nastier sides of himself, but right now she didn't seem all that ready to see them. '_She's just been traumatized and fucked up by her dad_,' he reminded himself sternly. '_The last thing she needs is for me to scare the shit outta her_.'

So, with a crazy amount of effort that made him feel like he deserved a medal, he wrestled himself back under control. Focusing on her personal wins helped, and he decided he'd better just concentrate on how awesome she'd been instead of how sucky her dad was.

Once he'd calmed down a bit, he cleared his throat for the thousandth time and carefully said, "Let's get outta here, Luce. I can't stand you being around that guy even a second longer."

She blinked at him and gulped. "You mean… right now? This second?"

"Well yeah. Duh. Pack your bags and let's go!" he replied eagerly, more and more sure that this was the right thing to do.

His instincts were screaming at him to leave now, and they'd never steered him wrong before. It was always how he got out of the sticky situations he got himself into.

But Lucy didn't seem to be on board with the idea, because her eyes were plate-sized and she was staring at him like he was crazy.

"Are you insane? I can't just… run away like that! Not without planning! And I haven't even introduced Brandy to all of my contacts or shown her all of my routes! I can't just leave without at least making sure she's completely prepared to take over for me."

A nasty taste settled in his mouth and he felt his nerves tighten. This was a bad idea, but she looked super stubborn.

"Okay… how soon can you get ready? Can you just show her everything in one day?"

"No! You know how many people I get food from and how long my routes are! It would take all day and night to visit everyone and show her everywhere I hand out food."

"Then how long is it gonna take to get her ready?"

"Well… I've already shown her one of four routes, so I guess… three more days? **IF** I go into town every day… which isn't ideal."

"I don't like it."

The look she gave him was completely unmovable. "Well I'm sorry, but that's the soonest I can leave."

That was too long, but he could already tell he wasn't going to change her mind… unless he just picked her up and dragged her out. Actually, that wasn't an awful idea, and he gave it a good long thought, but eventually he decided not to. He'd wait… for now. But if that feeling in his belly got any worse, he was gonna throw her over his shoulder and get outta here whether she wanted to or not.

"Alright… fine. But as soon as you've shown her that last route, we're heading out. So be ready to leave Friday night."

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_"I…. see," she finally managed, though her voice sounded weaker than she would have liked._

_It irked her to no end when her father's eyes glittered, like he was happy to see her distressed, and she realized that he was doing this to punish her for her little rebellion a few days ago. Steeling her spine into a stiff rod, she squared her shoulders and put her chin up, thinking fast. Panic was beating hard and fast inside her, but she caged it to the best of her ability so she could try to think._

_Swallowing her pounding heart, she somehow managed to speak calmly. "And has the date been decided on?"_

_"Yes, we will be wed in three to four days, depending on how long it takes to get back to my kingdom."_

* * *

Dun, dun, dun, DUN.

It looks like we've got a storm ahead of us folks, better buckle up.


	12. CH 12: Worst Timing Ever

**Author's Note:**

Hello all! It's Sunday, and you know what that means... a new chapter. ;D

As always, HUGE thanks to all my wonderful reviewers out there. Big hugs and kisses to: valerioux, sakshishetty3003, SistershoOk, stranger1999, Anna5949, DarkTwil, Jedi Jelsa777, Starstruck-MJ, Bugseey, Melga92, AshleighLeeann17, NarukoSon, neffateri13, , CathJorda, and Cino2K. You guys are all awesome. :D

Alrighty, on with the show!

* * *

Thursday night rolled around sooner than Lucy would have thought possible.

She collapsed back onto her bed and stared up at her canopy… having just gotten back from showing Brandy her route on the westside.

"What are you doing just lying there like a lump of potatoes? Get up and put on your nightgown!" Aquarius barked at her from the foot of the bed.

"Alright, alright… I'm doing it," she sighed, sitting up and reaching for the white shift that Aquarius had tossed on the bed beside her.

"Tsk… look at you. All dazed and useless. You'd better snap out of that before tomorrow or you'll be caught before you reach the first farmhouse," the fussy bluenette huffed, still bustling around the room.

Yesterday, Lucy had told Aquarius her plans, and the other woman had taken it surprisingly well. She'd actually been very supportive, helping Lucy pack and iron out details she might not have thought about.

"Don't forget to take your bag with you tomorrow. And for god's sake, don't forget to take it out of the cart when you leave it with Brandy."

"I know… we've gone over this many times already."

"Because you're bound to forget it if I don't beat it into your head!" the maid snapped as she paused her fussing around to smack Lucy with a random folded pillowcase.

"Gah! Okay, okay! I get it!" Lucy squawked and threw her arms up to fend off the angry older woman.

Aquarius stepped back and tsked again, giving her a sharp eye. "It's just as well you're leaving now. Spending so much time around that boyfriend of yours has degenerated your manners. You wouldn't last much longer in court."

Lucy pouted at her. "You know I don't use court speech and court manners outside of formal situations."

"Maybe, but your attitude is different now…." She ran an appraising eye over Lucy and pursed her lips. "That man has changed you in more ways than I think you know."

When she turned away, Lucy couldn't tell if her comment had been positive or negative, but a slight curve of her lips suggested it was the former.

Still, she didn't really know how to respond, so she stayed quiet until Aquarius barked, "Alright! Go through this one more time, and make sure you have everything you need."

The bluenette threw the heavy backpack at Lucy – who was lying down on the bed again – and it landed on her stomach with a big '**whump**.'

"OOF! Aquarius! Come on!" Lucy yelped, wincing as her sore ribs protested.

"No whining! Just go through it!"

"Okay… jeez…" Lucy grumbled softly under her breath and sat up with the bag on her lap.

She unzipped it and rustled through the contents, calling affirmatives to Aquarius as she started listing things.

"Keys? Toothbrush? Toothpaste? Pain pills? Healing salve? Bandages? Three changes of clothes? Underwear? Socks? Hairbrush? Magic hairpins? An extra pair of glasses? Contacts? An extra pair of gloves? Flashlight? Sleeping bag? Meal bars? Money?…"

And so it went. Luckily everything that Aquarius listed, Lucy was able to find in the bag, and by the end of the exercise it looked like she was totally ready. She didn't intend to take anything for sentimental reasons… everything in her bag had been chosen because she thought it would be useful, and she had only packed what she absolutely needed.

After finishing up the checklist on her bag, Aquarius said, "Good, now go over your plan again."

"I'm going to get a good night's sleep tonight, and tomorrow I'll attend all my lessons as usual to avoid raising suspicion. Once my last lesson is over, I'll head out as Lady Luck with Brandy and show her the last route-"

"And where are you going to put your bag?" Aquarius interrupted.

"In my cart with the food. And as soon as I set up in The Lion and Rose, I'll take my bag out. Then Brandy will finish handing out food, and Natsu and I will leave. I'll go first, and after a couple of minutes he'll follow. Once I can see the huge blue farmhouse he described, I'll stop and wait for him to catch up."

"Good. You two should be able to make it to the train station before anyone realizes you're gone but be extra careful about your disguise just in case."

Lucy nodded, grateful for the run-through. "Thank you, Aquarius… for everything. Really, I don't think I could have done this without your help."

"Oh you could have done it on your own, but you would have messed it all up," the bluenette dismissed, but Lucy was sure she'd caught a small smile on the other woman's face before she turned away.

"Alright, now, let's go over it all again. One more time," she said from across the room.

Lucy took a deep breath and nodded, starting back at the beginning.

To be honest, she _was_ very anxious about tomorrow, so going over it again and again helped settle her nerves a bit. Somehow she just knew that something was going to go wrong… but she tried to dismiss the feeling as paranoia.

…

For at least thirty more minutes they kept going over the plans, ironing out every little possible kink that might come up, and by the time Lucy went to bed she felt better about things. However, that little niggle of dread just wouldn't leave her alone, and it made her sleep very fitful.

The following day, she was a little groggy from lack of sleep but managed to successfully go through her normal daily routine without any hitches along the way. Everything went according to plan, and by the time she got to her last tutoring session she was starting to feel like it would all turn out okay after all.

Naturally, that was when she received a summons from her father to come see him in his study.

Anxiety hit her like a slap to the face. She almost cut and ran right there, but then she stopped and reminded herself that there was no way he could have gotten wind of her plans. Logically speaking, leaving now would be a really bad idea… it would only make him aware of her absence faster, and they would have much less time to escape. Whereas, if she just brownnosed and went through all the motions until he let her go, she could continue on as if nothing had happened.

Since she trusted the plan they'd come up with and still thought it was their best chance of getting away, she girded her loins and headed for her father's study.

When she got there though, one look told her that something was very wrong. First of all, King Eisenwald was there… and both he and her father looked way too pleased with themselves.

Trying to hide her growing apprehension, she asked, "You called for me?"

"Why yes, Lucy. I'm so glad you chose to grace us with your presence," King Heartfilia replied smugly, undoubtedly thinking that she was only behaving properly because of his threats. "I'm sure you remember King Eisenwald?"

She dutifully turned to the other man and smiled, meeting his creepy calculative stare despite the shiver of revulsion that went through her.

However, her tone held a hint of bite as she murmured, "Yes… _distinctly_."

Instead of seeming put off by her subtly cutting remark, his smile only broadened. Just like before, he gave off an air that made her uncomfortable… as if he found her rebellion entertaining. To her, that only meant he was eager to try and 'tame' her.

"That's wonderful…" her father intoned, drawing her attention back to him. "Because I have decided to accept his proposal for your hand."

Time stood still for a long moment as she absorbed that information, and she barely even perceived King Eisenwald murmuring, "I can't tell you how delighted I am to have you as my fiancé…"

She was going to marry this… this… Natsu's voice filled the void in her mind and supplied the word, '_jerkwad_.' Imagining how he would react to her calling him that almost made her laugh, but she was currently too perturbed to produce such a sound.

"I…. see," she finally managed, though her voice sounded weaker than she would have liked.

It irked her to no end when her father's eyes glittered, like he was happy to see her distressed, and she realized that he was doing this to punish her for her little rebellion a few days ago. Steeling her spine into a stiff rod, she squared her shoulders and put her chin up, thinking fast. Panic was beating hard and fast inside her, but she caged it to the best of her ability so she could try to think.

Swallowing her pounding heart, she somehow managed to speak calmly. "And has the date been decided on?"

"Yes, we will be wed in three to four days, depending on how long it takes to get back to my kingdom."

"Your kingdom?" Lucy slowly repeated, the panic growing harder to contain.

"Indeed. I have informed all my servants and people to prepare for a lavish ceremony as soon as we return. It's customary in my country to bring our brides home and hold the ceremony there. Your father has been most accommodating."

This was even worse than she'd thought… she had to get away right now or risk being taken and imprisoned. King Eisenwald seemed cunning enough that she suspected it would be difficult to escape his kingdom once he had her there.

All she could hear was her heart hammering in her ears, but her mind was racing to find a way out of this situation.

"Oh… how lovely," she finally mumbled, trying to play along and avoid suspicion. "I'll go and pack immediately for the journey."

"No need, I've already told the servants to pack for you," her father cut in.

At that point, she began to suspect her father had warned King Eisenwald that she might try to make a run for it, and they were intentionally making it hard for her to do that.

"I have some keepsakes of sentimental value that cannot be replaced, so I must insist."

"If that's the case, you can ask your maid to go pack whatever you wish to bring."

A random maid that Lucy barely knew showed up, and she was sure that wasn't by chance either. They had probably predicted that her maids might try to help her escape in some way.

So, she forced a smile and described several pieces of jewelry that her mother had given her to keep up the façade. The maid curtsied and said, "Yes, Princess, right away," before bustling off to pack them.

Of course, that did literally nothing to help her run away, so she scrambled to think of something else. If she could only get to her room, she could change into her costume and escape through the window… but she just didn't see that happening. They obviously already expected her to do that and were going out of their way to keep her from her chambers.

As her father stood and ushered them out of his office, she meekly followed, keeping her eyes peeled for the best escape route and planning to make a mad dash as soon as she could. Luckily her father's study was a long way from the front doors, so she had a good length of twisting halls to make her move. She also began to gradually slow her pace by tiny increments, eventually managing to inch behind the two men who had been flanking her. They were still close enough that if she turned and ran, they would see it in their peripheral, but if she played her cards right she might just be able to slip down a side hall without their notice. She doubted her father expected her to make a dash for it in front of them – though he obviously didn't trust her enough to let her out of his sight.

All of her senses were on high alert as she watched for an escape route, so she immediately noticed when a door cracked just a little way down the hall. The movement was so subtle she doubted her father or King Eisenwald had noticed, but it seemed very suspicious to her.

It might be her way out.

Her heart jumped and then pounded even faster, her fingers nearly tingling and burning with all the blood shooting to her extremities. This was going to be close… if there was someone behind that door ready to help her, she had to be on her toes. She would have to get in there within a few seconds and completely silently, otherwise they would be on her tail before she could escape.

To give herself as much time as possible, she shortened her stride even further, desperately hoping that her two opponents wouldn't notice. Luckily they were too busy talking with each other to pay attention to her pace.

The seconds ticked by like hours, and her skin felt like it was crawling with anxiety and tension. Then, suddenly she was right in front of the door.

It opened silently, and with the speed of a striking snake something snatched her up and she was whipped into the space beyond. Somehow, she held her breath to keep herself from making a surprised sound, and she watched with shock as the door silently closed and locked behind her. A hand grabbed her arm and she was immediately being forced into a near-run down the tiny servant's hallway she found herself in.

That was when she finally got a good look at her rescuer, and it wasn't a particularly huge surprise to see Aquarius dragging her along.

"Thank you…" Lucy whispered urgently, almost tearing up a little.

"You aren't safe yet. It's going to be nearly impossible to get you out of the castle, so prepare yourself for the worst," the bluenette snapped, sounding irritated and intense.

Lucy had figured as much, but the reminder still sent a fresh wave of terror through her body, and she hurried up even more.

"If only Brandish had shown up to work on time… she could have just shrunk you down and smuggled you out," Aquarius growled, which explained some of her frustration.

The sound of voices was growing louder by the second as people started searching the servant halls for her, but thankfully Lucy and Aquarius quickly came across a storeroom and they were able to duck inside. Right as they closed the door, they heard footsteps rushing down the hall towards them and Aquarius reopened the door like she was leaving.

Lucy hid behind the wall as several servants skidded to a halt right in front of the older woman and asked, "Have you seen the princess? She's gone missing and a castle wide search is in progress!"

"So I've heard. I just checked this room, she's not here," Aquarius answered firmly, sounding utterly unsuspicious and very authoritative.

"Damn it…" one of them huffed, and thankfully the sound of their retreating footsteps rang through the hall as they rushed on.

As soon as the sound faded, Aquarius slipped back inside the room and locked the door.

"Why do you think they were so frantic to find me?" Lucy whispered.

"Your father probably offered a reward to anyone who does… or a punishment if you aren't found."

"Oh…" she muttered, her gut clenching. Not only would she have to worry about the guards, but now she had to worry about the servants too… and they would be a lot harder to avoid.

"Stop worrying and start stripping," Aquarius snapped, already doing the same.

For a second Lucy had no idea what was going on, but she caught onto the idea of swapping outfits very quickly and did as her friend suggested. Instead of wasting time on her corset when they got to it, Aquarius made a blade out of water and just cut through the ties…. which was as alarming as it was impressive. But Lucy didn't comment because she was too busy wiggling out of the rest of her clothes.

Then they traded off and Lucy was rushing to put on Aquarius's maid uniform while the bluenette neatly dressed in the princess's ensemble. How she did up all the buttons in the back, Lucy had no idea… and once again she didn't have time to ask.

As soon as they were both fully dressed, Aquarius shoved a maid's cap on Lucy's head and stuffed all her hair up into it. Then the other woman pulled a pair of glasses and a bag of makeup out of nowhere. Within a few seconds, the bluenette had brushed contouring makeup thickly onto the princess's face and finished by slapping on the pair of glasses.

"There… you'll pass a cursory look, but don't stick around in one place too long. And put this on…"

She snapped a golden chain around Lucy's neck – from which dangled her celestial keys. As soon as the clasp clicked into place, the chain briefly glowed and disappeared. Lucy gasped and grabbed for her keys, worried that something had happened to them, but as soon as she touched them the chain and her keys became visible again.

"What is this?" she asked, amazed.

"The chain is magical. It can't be broken, and only the wearer can take it off or see it. Your keys should be safe as long as you keep them on this necklace."

"This is amazing, Aquarius! Thank you so much!"

"Well I didn't have a choice did I? If you didn't have something like this, you'd lose them right away. Now get going, we're running out of time. Run straight to the exit and don't look back… I'll try to buy you as much time as I can by leading everyone around on a goose chase."

The maid tied her blue hair up in a tight bun and grabbed a small decorative throw blanket off one of the nearby shelves, draping it over her head like a hood to hide her hair and face.

"I can't ask you to do that for me! You'll be fired at least… and possibly imprisoned for helping me escape."

"Don't worry about me," her friend retorted sharply and shoved her out the door.

Before she could do anything to stop her, Aquarius had taken off down the hall and all Lucy could do was accept the help. If she ran after the other woman, she would probably just expose them both and waste all of Aquarius's effort and sacrifice. So, as much as it hurt her to, Lucy headed in the opposite direction and hoped for the best.

Before long, she was surrounded by servants, and she had to force herself to match the pace of everyone else to blend in. Luckily, nobody paid her any attention… they were obviously looking for a runaway princess, not one in disguise.

Before long, somebody shouted, "She's been spotted in the east wing!" and Lucy tried to keep herself from cringing. She sent up a silent prayer that Aquarius would be alright.

Everyone started rushing that way, and Lucy had to carefully extract herself or risk drawing attention to the fact that she was going the wrong direction. Somehow she managed to lose them without anyone noticing her, and she immediately picked up her pace a little to put some distance between herself and that particular group.

She kept trying to imitate and match the movements and pace of any servants she ran across on her way towards the exit, and her luck held surprisingly well through most of the castle.

However, right as she began to grow optimistic, naturally she ran into her violin tutor… almost literally in fact. As she rounded a corner, she nearly collided with him.

He stumbled back and glared at her, sputtering, "Watch where you're going, Maid! Stop dashing around like it's the apocalypse…. Honestly, you'll do anything for the smallest reward. It's disgusting."

Lucy was hardly surprised by how prejudiced he obviously was. Though he'd never treated _her_ that way, he was just a generally unpleasant person, and it wasn't a shock to find out that he was also bigoted.

Unfortunately, he also knew her very well, and she felt a zip of sharp anxiety sting her when he stopped and stared. She hurriedly bowed and made to quickly hustle around him, but his hand lashed out before she could take more than a few steps. He latched onto Lucy's wrist and yanked her back.

"You! You seem awfully familiar, and I never make it a habit to remember maids' faces…"

Thinking fast and going with the first thing that came to her mind, she made her voice raspy and barked, "Lemme go! I got shit ta do!"

He scoffed and his grip only tightened on her when she yanked against his hold. "You speak like a newly hired maid who hasn't learned her manners yet, but nobody can fool my ears. I remember voices like I do instruments, and you are no maid… Princess."

Dread soaked her down to the bone, but panic made her strong. She used the surge of adrenaline to plant her heels and wrench her body around, throwing all her weight to the side. It was enough to break his grip on her, and she barely stumbled before she was off like a shot.

Once she'd put a little space between them, she slowed down and tried to blend in again… but that only worked until she heard guards yelling at each other nearby.

"Mr. Aquila said she's dressed as a maid! Quick, grab every maid and search her!"

After that, she didn't even try to pretend and just started rushing towards the exit. However, she kept a maintainable pace and didn't run very quickly… actually, her speed was closer to powerwalking so she could conserve her energy for any sprinting she would have to do.

She somehow managed to avoid encountering any guards on her way to the kitchens, but unfortunately her luck ran out before she got there.

As she approached her chosen exit, she heard several guards coming up fast from a hallway perpendicular to hers, and she skidded to a brief halt, thinking for a second about running back the way she'd come. However, from the sound of their gaining footsteps she knew that there was no avoiding them… they would see her before she'd rounded the corner.

There was only one thing left to do, and her feet acted before her mind had fully processed it, causing her to sprint right across their path and towards the kitchens. She heard shouts behind her as they undoubtedly saw her shooting down the hall in front of them and took chase. She didn't even bother to look behind her and just continued to run, bursting through the kitchen door at full tilt.

Mr. Yajima spun with a sputtered oath, and Mey-Rin and Baldroy did something similar. As much as she wanted to, she didn't waste time trying to explain… she just ran through them towards the door that would let her out into the gardens. The kitchens were quite large and had several islands and worktables breaking up the space, so her path was far from straight and she didn't make it out before the guards had followed her in.

At that point, Yajima and the others would've had to be idiots to not realize what was going on.

As she dashed around the last set of worktables, an enormous explosion of sound erupted behind her… yells, curses, banging, and all sorts of undefinable noises clattering through the kitchen.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"Fuck!"

"What the hell is going on?! What are you doing?!"

"Oh no! Please watch out!"

"Watch out?! You watch out! What is this mess?!"

Risking a glance back, she saw that Baldroy had apparently toppled over an entire stack of dishes, pots, and pans directly in the path of the guards, while Mey-Rin had spilled a variety of slippery foods on the floor. Both of them were still milling around, bumping into everyone and everything as they apparently "panicked" … which continued to create food related havoc that slowed down her pursuers.

Her wild eyes briefly caught Yajima's, and he winked and jerked his head at the door before promptly entering the fray with a steaming cauldron full of something probably very hot. Loud yells sounded seconds after and she heard him launch into a full-on lecture about how dangerous kitchens were and that they shouldn't be in there.

Lucy used the distraction to run out the door and into the kitchen gardens. Of course, naturally as soon as she escaped that situation, a new group of guards saw her and took chase…. and even worse, they were coming from the direction of the castle gate. That meant she had to run into the gardens and away from the exit, which made her want to scream with frustration.

By that point, she was basically running blind and didn't have a plan at all…. If she could just find a place to hide and think for a moment, maybe she would come up with a way out. But as it was, she didn't see that happening. The grounds were swarming with guards, and every way she turned she ran into more of them.

They saw her too of course, and it wasn't long before a whole troop of castle guards were on her tail. She managed to dodge them for a while by ducking into the bushes and behind trees as she led them on a merry chase…. But that wasn't a good thing, because it just meant she exhausted herself faster. No matter how she tried to lose them, they kept on coming, and someone was always there to see her and shout her location whenever she attempted to hide.

It also quickly became obvious that they were making a concerted effort to keep her away from any escape route, and she just ended up running in circles. Before long, they seemed to be on all sides – shouting to each other, circling her, and closing in while she dashed around trying to find a weak spot in their ranks. What scared her the most though was that they weren't making mad grabs for her anymore…. that was her first clue that they were organizing a trap.

They were ruthlessly efficient, herding her into an open grassy spot in the gardens and then making a tight ring around her, all of their spears held sideways like a rail between her and escape.

"Please surrender, Princess, we wish you no harm," the leader of the group called to her, sounding pretty out of breath.

She got a little satisfaction from the sound of his heavy panting, knowing that she'd at least put up a good fight… but she still wasn't ready to give up just yet.

It took a little mental scrambling to come up with a possible escape plan, but luckily something did occur to her relatively quickly. She had her celestial keys thanks to Aquarius, and they could very well be her ticket out of here… as long as she was able to activate them. It had been over a year since her mother had told her how to use the magical artifacts, so hopefully she hadn't forgotten anything important.

With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and dug into her memory, trying to recall everything Mom had told her about celestial magic as she prepared to use it for the very first time.

From what she could remember, first she had to find the magic that was dormant inside her body and tap into it before she could do anything else. While her eyes were still closed, she tried to quiet her mind as much as possible and ignored the sounds of clinking armor around her. Focusing inwards, she reached deep, desperately searching for her magic even though she had no idea how to locate it.

For a brief, terrifying moment, she was scared that she either wouldn't find it in time or that there simply wasn't anything for her to find. Even though her mother had been a mage, that was no guarantee that Lucy had magic abilities too. But right as she was about to give up, she touched something warm that she'd never felt before and tingles suddenly shot through her body. Something bright and beautiful came to life inside her and she lit up like a lighthouse, making her feel like she had swallowed a star.

It was a little overwhelming.

And even though it was strange and new, it also felt incredibly familiar. Her mother's magic had felt the same… warm and sweet and golden, like honey shining in the sun.

She teared up a little at all the happy, loving memories that flooded her, but she quickly pulled herself together and focused on what to do now that she had accessed her magic. Following what she remembered her mother telling her to do, she drew on the magic and pulled it towards her chest, where Layla Heartfilia had placed a permanent magic circle.

It was an ancient spell that had been passed down through the generations of her mother's family, one that would give her access to another world called the celestial realm… a land of stars and otherworldly beings called celestial spirits that could grant her special magical powers if they decided to form a contract with her. Each of her keys opened the gate to one of these celestial spirits, though there was no guarantee that they would forge a contract with her. Some required a mage to complete a series of challenges before they would agree to any kind of partnership.

It was risky to do right here, since she wasn't entirely sure what would happen once she opened a gate to the celestial realm – whether the spirit would come into this world, or if she would be sucked into the other – but she didn't have any choice. This was her last chance to escape.

So, she drew all her magic power into her chest and opened her eyes to see if it was working. When she looked down, she was astounded to see that she was glowing with gold light… especially the middle of her chest where a magic circle had appeared on her skin. Three rings surrounded a center filled with intricate scrolling, and in the very middle of the bullseye was a large decorative keyhole. Both the innermost and outermost rings were made of magical symbols bracketed by heavy lines, and between them was a thicker band of strangely empty space.

Lucy knew that every celestial spirit had a symbol naming them, and the empty ring on her chest was reserved for the names of any spirits she made a contract with. Her mother had possessed four, and her magic circle had almost looked like a compass marking the four cardinal directions.

Unfortunately, that was as far as she got.

Before she could even grab for a key, one of the guards had shouted, "She's using magic! Quick! Handcuff her!"

Several guards tackled her and she felt metal snap around her wrists. It all happened so fast that she didn't have a hope of retaliating or fighting back as one wrapped her in a bearhug from the front and another grabbed her wrists from behind. Several more came from the sides to help stop her from flailing around, and it was all over in a matter of seconds.

As soon as the anti-magic handcuffs clicked into place, she felt her new power cut off like scissors had severed her connection to it. The loss left her feeling cold and even more helpless than before, and she hated the sensation intensely.

Once she was cuffed, all the guards dropped away except for two – who took positions on either side of her, each firmly gripping one of her elbows. They started frog marching her back towards the castle, grunting a little and straining as she dug in her heels and balked. She did everything she could to make the trip as unpleasant for them as possible, though she didn't have any hope of getting free. Every now and then she tested them by throwing her weight to one side or another, making both guards stagger and curse, but they never let her go.

Her goal was more to protest the treatment than anything…. at this point, going meekly to her fate would just add insult to injury.

It wasn't long before they were dragging her in front of her father and King Eisenwald. The former was visibly seething, but the latter actually looked amused – which was almost more frightening.

The silence was broken by King Eisenwald, who started to chuckle a little. His eyes looked her up and down, and his lips curled into an amused smile.

"A maid's costume… how clever. You're even more spirited than I expected, Princess."

Her father flinched, and Lucy felt dark satisfaction as he kowtowed to the other man.

"Yes, I'm afraid she is rather… strong-willed. Normally she has much better manners I assure you, but it seems this whole business has awakened a rebellious side. I apologize for the inconvenience, I'm sure she will come to her senses soon."

"Oh, you misunderstand me. I quite like that she has a little fire… it will make our marriage even more entertaining than I'd hoped. I do love a good challenge."

The smile he sent Lucy was not particularly friendly. There was a gleam in his eyes that left her feeling itchy and cold all over, and she knew that what he wanted with her was not going to be fun.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_"What are you doing here?!"_

_He recognized that pissy tone, and immediately perked up as Lucy's blue-haired maid appeared out from behind the wall of water he realized he'd plowed right into. She looked different somehow… but he didn't really notice or care._

_"You! You're Lucy's maid right?! Where did she go?!"_

_"I assume you heard that her fiancé took her back to his country?"_

_"So it's true?!"_

* * *

Hang in there Lucy! Natsu's coming to save you!

It sure looks like our beloved protagonists are in a pinch, doesn't it?

If you want hints about what's coming up, I might hand them out. ;D


	13. CH 13: On the Road to Heck

**Author's Note:**

Well, it's Sunday! And you know what that means. ;D

As always, HUGE thanks to all my wonderful reviewers out there. Big hugs and kisses to: , valerioux, Bugseey, AshleighLeeann17, stranger1999, CathJorda, Starstruck-MJ, SistershoOk, Cino2K, sakshishetty3003, Jedi Jelsa777, Catleana, Leomae2.0, MajorPain67, and ABT4Life. You guys are awesome! :D

Well, let's get right to it then, shall we?

* * *

Natsu was hanging out near the entrance to the common district waiting for the girls when an insanely fast magic mobile shot out of the gate and almost bowled him over.

He staggered back a couple of steps and shouted at its backside, "Oi! Watch it, ya crazy idiot! Don't go driving so fast in the city!"

Of course, that was totally ignoring the fact that he'd probably drive just as fast if he ever drove… but that would never happen, since he always got super motion sick in any kind of vehicle. So, he was free to get pissed at crazy drivers.

He would've let it go after that, but a funny feeling made him turn back around and look closer at the rear window of the car as it drove away. It was almost outta sight, but he caught a glimpse of someone looking back… someone with blond hair and a really familiar face.

There was a chance that it wasn't Lucy… but whoever was in that car sure looked a heck of a lot like her.

His gut jerked like he was gonna puke, and he almost started chasing after them. But there was no way he'd catch up with a car going that fast, so he whipped around and ran into the noble district instead. He had to find someone who knew what was going on and if that'd been Lucy or not… and if it was, where she was going so he could follow her.

"Hey! You!" he shouted at the first guard he saw. "Where's the princess?"

The man shot him a look, like he couldn't believe that Natsu had the balls to talk to him or something. "Buzz off, commoner, it's none of your concern."

"Huh?! What the heck's your problem?!" Natsu spat, seriously pissed now at this jerk's attitude. Where did he get off talking to people like that?

He got up in the guy's face and leaned in real close, nearly touching foreheads. The guard jerked back and his eyes went wide.

"Are you instigating a fight with me?!"

Natsu almost said, "Heck yeah!" but then another guard came over to break them up.

"What's going on over here?"

"I was just asking this guy something, and he was being all rude about it and not answering me," Natsu growled, stepping back a little to see if the new guard would give him some info.

"What was your question?"

"What's up with the princess?" Natsu quickly responded.

The new guy cocked an eyebrow and looked surprised. "You haven't heard? I thought everyone knew by now."

"Uh… no?"

"Princess Heartfilia's fiancé showed up today to take her home with him."

Natsu felt everything go very, very quiet in his head for a second, and then it all exploded.

"What?! Fiancé?! Where is she now?!"

The guard stumbled back as Natsu took a couple of big steps towards him. "Whoa! I don't know, they've already left."

"And where're they going?!"

"I don't know! I just know they were going to his kingdom, but I don't know which one it is."

Natsu snarled wordlessly and turned on his heel to bolt for the castle at top speed.

He didn't even notice all the people he knocked over on his way, 'cause he was totally focused on finding out where Lucy was being taken. Someone in the castle would know, and he was gonna ask every person he ran into.

When he rushed the gate though, he came to a screeching halt as he slammed into some kinda wall.

"What the… what was that?!" he sputtered, feeling like he'd just been dunked in a pool or something. He was soaking wet from top to bottom.

Nobody answered his question, but somebody asked one back.

"What are _you_ doing here?!"

He recognized that pissy tone, and immediately perked up as Lucy's blue-haired maid appeared out from behind the wall of water he realized he'd plowed right into. She looked different somehow… but he didn't really notice or care.

"You! You're Lucy's maid right?! Where did she go?!"

"I assume you heard that her fiancé took her back to his country?"

"So it's true?!"

"Yes, it is," the maid sighed, and glanced at some nearby guards, who somehow hadn't seen them yet. Maybe that water of hers was keeping them invisible or something.

She sneered and grabbed his arm, dragging him a couple yards away from the gates. "You must be stupid coming to the castle like this… what do you think will happen to you if the king finds out you were her secret lover?"

"I don't give a crap! Just tell me where she's being taken!"

"What good would that do? She'll already be married by the time you reach her."

"So what?! Just tell me how to get to her!"

"You'll get yourself killed; you know that right? Even a mage as powerful as you will have trouble there."

He could feel his entire body heating up dangerously, and he got in the maid's face. "If you don't tell me right now…"

Her face turned into an ugly mask and she leaned in close, nearly headbutting him as she got nose to nose.

"_What_? Are you going to force it out of me?"

Actually, that's exactly what he wanted to do, and for a second his fist clenched and his shoulder jerked forwards. But he reigned himself in at the last second and gritted his teeth.

"… No, 'cause Lucy cares a lot about ya. But I'll go in there and beat it outta someone else."

She leaned back and arched her eyebrow at his thumb as he jerked it towards the castle.

"Huh… you're certainly cocky, I'll give you that. But cockiness won't get you anywhere if you can't back it up."

"Alright, I'm outta here."

As he spun to walk away, she growled, "You idiot! Alright, fine, I'll tell you. You've convinced me that you mean business at least… I suppose we'll just wait and see if you can follow through."

He stopped and cocked his head over his shoulder to look back at her, not convinced she was gonna be helpful.

"Her fiancé, soon to be husband, is King Eisenwald from Balsam Island. I trust you've heard of him before?"

Oh yeah, he had. The jerk was on his master's shit list, and they'd been planning to take care of him for a while now. Which made things a whole lot easier.

Lucy's maid pulled a weird face and flinched a little when he smiled, and he figured it was probably a pretty evil one to get that reaction outta her.

"Oh yeah… I know about him. That's perfect actually…"

As he turned to run, he called over his shoulder, "Thanks! I owe ya one!"

Then he muttered under his breath, "Hang in there Lucy… I'm comin' for ya."

…

.

…

Meanwhile, Lucy was furiously avoiding the eyes of her new fiancé.

She was currently riding in an extremely fast magic mobile, which she'd been stuffed into by two men King Eisenwald had brought with him. Her fiancé was sitting across from her, and the two men – who she assumed were his guards – sat up front behind a sliding panel that gave her and the king a measure of privacy that she didn't really want.

As for the man in question, he looked smugger than she'd ever seen anyone look before, and she didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing the mess of emotions that was undoubtedly visible in her eyes.

To avoid his gaze, she just stared out of the window and watched the scenery whip past at incredible speeds. She absentmindedly wondered which of the men up front was powering and driving this vehicle, and where in the world King Eisenwald had found someone with so much magic…. Not that she really cared. The only thing that mattered to her was that there was no way Natsu would be able to catch up with them anytime soon at the rate they were going. She'd probably be on her own with this man for several days at least… and that was plenty of time for him to force her into marriage.

At the turn of her thoughts, she suddenly kicked herself. It would _**not**_ be good for Natsu to try to save her… that would only get him killed. She had to deal with this situation on her own. If anything, she should be grateful that he couldn't rush to his death.

Still… that brought up a new issue she hadn't even considered yet…. How would she find Natsu again after she escaped?

Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest, and she was pretty sure it was trying to break. Everything that had happened was finally catching up with her, and her predicament was starting to really hit hard. Not only was her freedom at risk, but so was her future – which also included Natsu of course. Somewhere along the line, she'd begun to believe that they would be together, and all her worries about losing him had faded….. which was stupid, because that future had never been set in stone. There had always been the risk of being shipped off somewhere before she could escape, and that's precisely what had happened.

As her stomach turned over several times, she vaguely wondered what King Eisenwald would do if she threw up on the upholstery. That might be one way to stop the car, but she doubted it would result in anything particularly good. He obviously had at least one powerful mage working for him, and escaping would've been difficult even if she still had access to her own magic.

Panic and the hopelessness of it all could have easily overwhelmed her, but she forced herself to focus on her anger instead, which burned hot and bright like a spotlight. It clarified her mind and made it so that she could focus on what she needed to do – getting away before anyone forced her into a marriage she didn't want. Any future with Natsu was at stake, and she refused to have her choices taken from her, him included.

And so, for the next few hours she sat and looked out the window as what seemed like hundreds of escape plans zipped through her head.

When the vehicle came to a stop, she was jarred from her thoughts and immediately went into high alert, her eyes flicking around to watch for an escape route. Moments later, the door was opened by a valet, and King Eisenwald exited the vehicle first. She quickly tried the handle on her side, hoping that she could exit opposite to him and make a run for it, but of course it was locked.

Grumbling under her breath, she followed him out of the car, grabbing the doorframe to steady herself as she stepped down. The glint of her new anti-magic bracelets caught her eye, and she grimaced at the innocuous looking cuffs. Her father had replaced her handcuffs with the enchanted jewelry before she left home, and – though she was glad that she wasn't chained anymore – the sight still reminded her that she wasn't free.

Once outside the car, she pointedly kept her eyes away from King Eisenwald and inspected her surroundings instead. They were in what looked like the parking lot of a train station, and a very fancy and fast-looking train was already parked at the platform. She winced, already determined that she should get free before boarding that beast.

When she finally glanced towards her fiancé, she noticed that his two guards had also exited the car and were talking to him at the moment…. but she knew that they would be flanking her very soon.

It was now or never.

The valet was busy loading their luggage onto a trolley, and she started edging her way around it, placing the heavily loaded cart between her and the three men. Then she backed up towards the car, planning to circle around to the other side and use it to block their view of her. That would give her a few extra moments, and if they lost sight of her she had a chance to disappear into the crowd.

Unfortunately, before she could take more than a few steps, her fiancé turned back around and saw her.

"Ah, it looks like she's making another escape attempt… how cute."

"Shit…" Lucy cursed under her breath, and turned to run.

However, she was quickly driven off course as an unexpected wind gusted past her, knocking her to the side and against the car. When she attempted to regain her balance and continue to run, another blast of air hit her, this time plastering her flat against the vehicle with so much pressure that she couldn't move.

"AH! What… what is this?!"

A crunch of gravel sounded as someone approached, and soon she felt the heat of another body behind hers. The wind dropped suddenly, but she pressed even closer to the smooth metal door to keep as much space as possible between her and whoever was behind her.

A hand appeared next to her head, and she glanced at it with trepidation, recognizing the black silk gloves.

"This is my magic," Erigor murmured, his voice much too close for comfort. "I can control the wind… and as you can see, it comes in very handy."

Then he leaned in even more, until she could feel his breath on the side of her face. "I'm sure you will quickly discover that I'm not as easy to disobey as your father… he obviously couldn't control you."

His hand came off the vehicle and he brushed his fingers over the side of her face where she still sported a faint bruise despite all the expensive creams her father had insisted she apply to it.

"Although he clearly tried. I have to admit, I'm very irritated that he marked you."

She got the distinct impression that he wasn't upset over the bruise for her sake. His attitude was more like someone who's property had been dented without his permission.

But she didn't have much mental capacity to worry about that… she was too busy being perturbed about him touching and crowding her. This was obviously going to be a lot worse than she'd imagined if he didn't respect her personal space – not to mention his display of magic, which had been downright terrifying.

After a few more seconds, he finally stepped back. "Come on then, we have to be on our way or we'll miss the train."

When she finally turned around, feeling humiliated, she expected to see the other men in their party to look surprised – or something to that effect – but neither of the guards had batted an eyelash. The valet seemed somewhat tense, but his face was carefully controlled, as if he thought this situation was above his pay grade.

After glancing over each of their expressions briefly, she averted her eyes entirely, still feeling ashamed about being beaten so easily. It was infuriating, and she promised herself that if she ever got out of this mess, she would do everything in her power to become so strong that nobody could ever treat her like this again. She would give anything to wipe the smug expression off King Eisenwald's face.

Naturally, there wasn't another chance to escape before they boarded the train, and her heart sank to her toes again as she was herded into an expensive looking compartment.

That was nothing though, because when the train jerked and began to move forwards, her heart felt like it dropped completely out of her body and onto the ground, where it was run over by the train and left behind as they picked up speed. Some small part of her whispered that it was good they'd boarded a train, because it would provide tracks for Natsu to follow, but she quickly erased the thought. Not only was it faulty logic – since they would probably switch tracks at least once – but she also had to remind herself that it was a bad idea for him to come to her rescue.

…

Several hours passed, which they spent largely in their private compartment – aside from a short visit to the dining cart for dinner – and then they eventually retired to their individual sleeping quarters.

The entire time, she'd refused to look at or speak to him, but that hadn't stopped him from speaking to her. The things he'd talked about were irritating at least fifty percent of the time, and the other half were just completely uninteresting. Sometimes she got so bored that she ended up focusing on the way he talked instead of what he was actually saying, and she quickly noticed that he was becoming less formal as the day went on.

He went on and on about his kingdom and how they made a fortune harvesting pearls and coral, and most of that conversation was just a bunch of bragging. There was also plenty of him telling her how 'lucky' she was to be marrying him, and she bit her tongue more than once to keep herself from spitting out, 'define luck!' or something similar.

It was even harder to keep quiet when he started talking about how their union would make both their kingdoms even more prosperous than they already were. His kingdom would benefit from her country's food production, and Lampro Capnia would grow wealthy off his pearls, salt, and fish trade… but she was positive that the biggest thing to be affected was the ruling classes' pocketbooks.

Most of the things he told her went in one ear and out the other, and she barely remembered anything he had said by the time she found herself in her sleeping compartment. Of course, that was partly because she was too busy trying to break out. She'd been locked in and knew a guard was posted outside – the one with brown spiky hair and a scar over his eye. She was pretty sure his name was 'Cobra;' and that didn't seem like a good thing if it indicated how dangerous he was.

He definitely didn't seem like an easy nut to crack, and she knew she wouldn't have a chance against him in a narrow train hallway without any weapons.

So that left the window, which had also been locked. She had been attempting to pick the lock for the past few hours but hadn't made any progress whatsoever. In fact, it was possible that she'd broken the damn thing. There had been a few ominous grinding and clicking noises as she shoved a bobby pin around in the mechanism, and they hadn't been the sounds of a lock opening.

Eventually, she set her pin down and glared at the large metal lock, blaming it for all her current problems.

After a few minutes of sulking, she flopped back on the foldout bed and stared up at the ceiling, miserably thinking to herself that even if she did get the window open somehow, would she jump out of a moving train? Could she survive it? Maybe… if she didn't hit a solid obstacle of some sort and landed on a gentle hill that she could roll down… or if she dropped into a deep river. That being said, there were a lot of 'ifs' involved, and most would require more light than the stars currently outside provided.

The entire reason for her to escape in the first place was so she could live… so getting herself killed in the process basically defeated the purpose.

It all seemed so hopeless, and as usual she found herself crying despite trying not to. At least she'd been able to hold onto her composure until she was alone… thanks to being so angry. She had never been in the habit of crying when she was angry, and for that she was extremely grateful.

But now that she was by herself, the anger had faded after hours of fussing with that stupid lock, and her frustration had turned into feeling overwhelmed. The tears came from that, and before she knew it she had turned into a fountain. She muffled her sniffles with her hands and let herself cry until the sobs became painful and her throat and eyes burned.

Afterwards she felt drained, like she had cried out a piece of her soul, and the exhaustion made it easy for her to slip into a dreamless sleep.

…

The next day, they ended up in a city on the coast. When they exited the train and Lucy inhaled a salty blast of sea air, she thought for sure that they had arrived in Balsam. However, that didn't turn out to be the case, because they took another rental car to the harbor – which was surprisingly far from the train station.

It was there that Lucy realized she was in even deeper trouble than she'd anticipated. Digging in her heels, she came to a quick stop on the wooden boardwalk leading to a shiny silver boat that was apparently waiting for them.

"By any chance, is your country on an island?" she asked, feeling her heart pound uncomfortably behind her breastbone.

He smiled at her, and the twinkle in his eyes told her that he knew what she was thinking. "Yes it is. In fact, my kingdom takes up the entire island of Balsam."

"Must be a small island then…" she muttered, but her mind was elsewhere.

He shrugged and said something about her size reference, but she was too busy thinking about how much harder it would be to escape him on an island and didn't pay attention. If she had access to her magic she might've had a chance, because she was pretty sure one of her four keys was a mermaid spirit of some sort… assuming they agreed to form a contract with her of course.

It would have been a shot at least, but she didn't even have that.

Suddenly everything felt like it was moving in slow motion and she could feel every pulse of her heart like rolling thunder. There was no escaping though, because King Eisenwald just smiled and gestured at the long-nosed, mohawked guard named Racer, who clamped his hand on her arm and towed her along. When she balked, Cobra grabbed her other arm and they frog marched her between them to the boat.

She was given no choice in the matter as they forced her to board, and then they locked her in a cabin below deck. The porthole windows along the wall were so small that even if she could have broken the glass, there was no way she would've fit through them, and she was sure that one of the guards stood in front of her door.

"Damn it…" she groaned softly as she wandered over to the porthole and stared out at the waves.

That's all she seemed to be doing these past two days… looking out windows. If this was a taste of how her life would be from now on, it was going to be an awful experience. There was no way she was going to stick around for the full meal.

Unfortunately, there wasn't any way for her to get away while she was trapped on this boat, but once they arrived at his kingdom she would find some way to give them the slip. Getting off the island would prove tricky, but she would do it somehow… even if she had to steal a boat.

Since she couldn't do anything else, she spent the boat ride thinking about every possible scenario that might come up and how to deal with them. Plus, she started weighing the pros and cons of waiting for the perfect opportunity versus trying to escape at every possible moment.

On the one hand, attempting something multiple times increased the probability of success. However, trying over and over again would also increase how tightly they guarded her, and eventually it would become impossible to get away. However, if she waited for the perfect opportunity, there was a chance that she could lure them into a false sense of security and they would let their guard down… which would increase her chances of success. But unfortunately that method also ran the risk that she might wait too long and lose her slim window of opportunity to get away before her wedding day. She was on a deadline, and that meant she had to aim for something in the middle and try to balance quantity with quality.

She couldn't just cut and run at every tiny opportunity, but any time she saw a _good_ chance Lucy would take it. Sooner or later it _had_ to work, and then she would just have to find an exceptionally good hiding place. Once the hubbub died down, she could sneak to the harbor in the middle of the night and steal a boat while nobody was around. That meant that as soon as they got on dry land, she would have to start looking for promising places to conceal herself for a while… because she intended to play this as safe as possible. There was no room for error once she finally got away.

It might make things easier if she could figure out how to get the magic canceling bracelets off her wrists, but the only way she could think of to do that was to steal the keys from the king… and she doubted that would be easy. It was possible she could pay someone to pick the locks, but she didn't know how to find someone like that in an unfamiliar kingdom. If she'd been back home, she knew a number of people who could pick any lock within seconds, but unfortunately going home wasn't an option for her. Once she got free, there was no way she was going back to Lampro Capnia… that would just be stupid.

By the time they finally made anchor later that day, Lucy had polished her plans to a high shine and was ready for just about anything – or at least that's what she told herself to boost her confidence.

When she felt the sensation of sailing over waves start to slow down, she snapped into high alert and prepared herself to the best of her ability. Nothing was going to slip past her… she would make sure of it.

She acted as docile as she could and didn't protest when she was led from her cabin out onto the deck, where the king was waiting for her.

He turned, and when he spotted her he smiled and held his hand out to her. "Come! Take a look at your new home, Princess."

She pursed her lips and walked to the railing of the boat – avoiding his open hand and choosing a spot fairly far away from him.

While she was considering escape plans, she had debated whether she should try to play nice and pretend like she'd accepted the situation… but ultimately she decided that would be pointless. Somehow she knew that her fiancé was smart enough to see through the ruse, and it would just be a waste of energy. So, she continued to avoid looking and speaking to him and just stared out over the water at the island in front of them instead.

She had to admit, the view _was_ very lovely… with crystal clear aqua waters and lush tropical greenery. At first, she couldn't see a single sign of population; all that was visible were white beaches and a heavily forested mountain. But as they rounded the island, she saw that it was in the shape of a crescent, and the other side was a large lagoon.

A massive city rose up from shore, cradled on all sides by the mountain ridge she had seen from behind. Shorter buildings near the coast made way for taller and more elaborate buildings, and a large elaborate castle rose at the apex, like a crown to the rest. The sloping land on either side of the lagoon was obviously farmed in large square patches that were cut into the land like a series of steps. Water glinted in blue lines around the crops, which told her that they were being irrigated rather than watered by rain. Though green with rolling grass, this side of the island seemed a lot less tropical than the other, and she assumed it got much less rain.

The surrounding waters were bustling with activity, with boats sailing back and forth from the harbor and many sitting in the open water outside of the lagoon – probably to fish or dive for pearls. Huge areas of green and brown quickly turned out to be seaweed that King Eisenwald had bragged about farming, and she apathetically observed the fishermen harvesting it.

Overall, it was a very pretty place, but she couldn't want to be there less. Instead of admiring the scenery, she was judging it with sharp eyes for anything that might be of assistance. For example, the multitude of boats meant that finding one wouldn't be a problem, and many of the tools she saw being used could easily be repurposed as a weapon. Plenty of hooks, knives, spears, poles, and other sharp looking instruments glinted in the hands of the few workers that passed by their boat, and she was more interested in the tools than the people using them – who all immediately hurried to bow and rush away from them.

However, once the boat was fully docked and they could leave, she began to notice the people more and more.

They had landed at the left side of the harbor, where the docks were large, spacious, and well kept. Boats just as big and fancy as theirs lined the docks, and the atmosphere was fairly quiet and pleasant, with just the sounds of people talking and enjoying the day.

But the further down the harbor she looked, the busier it became, and she could easily see that the boats on the other side of the lagoon were all worker boats. Almost three-fourths of the docks were bustling with workers.

Pressing her lips together, she looked up from the waterline and critically judged the layout of the city, immediately noticing that the large chunk sprouting from the bustling docks seemed to be crowded and made up of fairly small buildings. Meanwhile, on the left side of the city was a market – and her trained eyes easily picked up on the fact that it was a gradient of fancy shops leading into a commoner's market.

Being from a kingdom with a huge class separation, she could easily tell that the three-fourths of the city to the right were basically the slums. Whereas the small forth to the left was where all the tourists and rich people shopped, and it connected the fancy side of the docks to the higher-class districts further up the mountain. The commoner's markets between the fancy shopping strip and the slums probably acted as a buffer to keep tourists out of the poor living quarters, because they would run into cheap unexciting stores and turn around before they reached the slums.

At that point, her analysis was brought to a temporary halt as she was escorted to another magic mobile waiting for them in the nearby parking lot. As before, the two guards sandwiched her between them – though they didn't hold her arms this time. But there was still no chance of escaping, and she entered the car with as much dignity as she could muster.

It was another limousine-type of vehicle with bench seats facing each other in the back, and a separation between them and the front. And once again, she ended up across from King Eisenwald in the back, while the two guards sat up front.

Since it had worked well enough for the past few trips, she looked out the window and observed her surroundings, judging them and also looking for possible hiding places for later.

The further they drove into town, the more expensive everything looked, and soon they were surrounded by tropical luxury – with hotels, restaurants, shops, and everything anyone would expect to find on an island paradise. It looked like heaven, but it smelled like a lie, and she knew that the large chunk of city she'd spied from the docks would probably tell the true story. This was too similar to the noble district back home for her to trust it, and King Eisenwald struck her as the kind of man that would take advantage of his people. She would bet anything that there were hundreds of starving, poor, overworked, and sick people stuffed into buildings that were coming down around their ears.

Fresh disgust for her new fiancé wormed its way through her and she wished there was something she do to help these people, but unfortunately it was all she could do to help herself at the moment.

Much too soon, they were driving through a fancy pair of gates and started winding their way up an extremely long switchback road that probably increased their elevation by at least a hundred feet if not more. Lucy's view out the window switched between increasingly high views of the city and the rocky wall beside them…. and then suddenly they were at the top, and exquisitely pruned gardens took over the scenery.

After a little more driving, the thick tropical greenery gave way to open expanses of lawns and small gardens, and Lucy soon saw that they were on a long straight road that ended in a circular driveway at the foot of an ostentatious castle. The cream and pink building matched the island, being the squared-off version of a crescent. If seen from above, she would imagine that it looked like a hexagon with the front wall missing and a very long back wall.

The central portion was large and rectangular, with a peachy façade of arches connected by white pillars. The lowest row of arches was flush to the wall and merely decorative, but on the second floor they became wraparound balconies that overflowed with flowering plants. Crowning the center of the roof was a wide pentagonal structure topped by a pillared gazebo with a domed roof of gold and white. The two wings off the main building were decorated with the same arches and pillars, and both possessed domed towers at the ends that mimicked the central dome.

Just like the rest of her surroundings, it was truly lovely to look at, but under the circumstances she couldn't enjoy the sight. To her, it just looked like a pretty prison.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_Michelle met her at the door and immediately asked, "How was dinner, my lady?"_

_"Annoying and dull, but the food was good," she replied without hesitation, startling a surprised chuckle out of the maid._

_She quickly sobered though and looked nervously at the door that had just closed behind Lucy. "You should be careful saying such things… it could make the king angry."_

_Lucy just shrugged. "Apparently he wants me to challenge him, and I don't plan to disappoint."_

_Michelle winced. "I don't think you should do that, my lady. He'll punish you for sure."_

* * *

Well folks... buckle up. It's gonna be a bumpy ride from here on out.

I'll do my best to answer any questions or requests for warnings and hints in the reviews. ;D


	14. CH 14: Tours, New Friends, and Failures

**Author's Note:**

It's Sunday! And you know what that means. ;D

HUGE thanks to all my WONDERFUL reviewers. Bug hugs and kisses to: stranger1999, sakshishetty3003, Jedi Jelsa777, valerioux, Cino2K, Starstruck-MJ, CathJorda, AshleighLeeann17, Akane Saito, MajorPain67, SistershoOk, , and KiyKat0575.

Alright, on with the show!

* * *

Natsu was pretty sure he was in hell.

His stomach churned, he was sweating bullets, and everything looked kinda wavy. There was no way he'd ever get used to riding in a moving vehicle – it didn't matter how many times he did it, it sucked just as hard every time. He always ended up slouched in his seat and couldn't move no matter how hard he tried. It kinda felt like he melted into something not human whenever he got this sick.

Motion sickness was the devil.

He'd finally been able to get a train a couple hours ago, after spending last night waiting for one that would take him where he needed to go. According to the map he'd grabbed from a stand in the train station, Hargeon was the port kingdom closest to Balsam, so he figured he could get a boat there that would take him to Lucy.

But even after sitting around on his butt all night, he still hadn't been able to get a train that would take him straight there. He'd have to switch in another kingdom – which doubled the time he'd be miserable.

His stomach did not like that thought and he almost tossed his cookies again.

This was gonna suck so hard.

It was kinda amazing that he could still be worried about Lucy when he felt so crappy, but he guessed that was what it meant to be in love. Which was just fine and all, but he really wished that this whole love thing hadn't put him on a train.

It'd all be worth it though, if it meant he could save Lucy. He just hoped that they were taking the long way too, otherwise he might be too late to keep that bastard from hurting her. If the guy put a single finger on Lucy, Natsu was going to make him wish he'd never been born – and then some. She was so frickin' clueless when it came to sex and stuff that he could just imagine how freaked out and scared she'd be if that jerk tried anything. The idea of it freaked him out pretty good too… in a murderous kinda way.

He could only cross his fingers and hope that Lucy was still far away from Balsam so he could get to her in time.

…

.

…

Unfortunately for Natsu – and Lucy – that wasn't the case.

"This is the banquet hall…" King Eisenwald boasted, leading Lucy through a huge pair of gold and white doors.

The space inside was reminiscent of the large ballroom back home, since it was really large with lots of windows…. and it was already decorated for tomorrow.

As soon as she'd been escorted inside the palace, the king had taken her on a tour that consisted of him boasting about all his expensive décor, furniture, collections, and the building itself. He had pointed out a few things in the huge entrance hall – like some statues and the painted ceiling – and then he'd led her up a sweeping set of stairs and down a long hallway. Eventually they'd arrived at a double set of doors, behind which was the expansive throne room. Much like the banquet hall, it had also been fully decorated with flowers, ribbons, lace, candles, and dripping strands of pearls. A long white runner trimmed in gold led to an alter that had been set up at the foot of a stepped dais where King Eisenwald's throne sat.

That was where she'd been informed they would be married tomorrow. Naturally, she hadn't wanted to stay in that room and immediately turned around and left, which only seemed to amuse her fiancé. He'd laughed at her, and then led her to the nearby banquet hall, which was their current location.

As she looked around, she sourly thought that he was just using this as an opportunity to show off all his wealth by decorating with so much silk, gold, and pearls. It was pretty but way overdone in her opinion.

After looking around for a moment, they moved on and he continued to show her other places within the castle – like the dining room and the formal parlor where they would entertain personal guests. All the while, he also went out of his way to tell her what her duties would be in every room they entered.

"As my wife, you'll entertain our guests with your beauty, conversation, and music. I've prepared the parlor with a harp and a violin, and if you want to play anything else, just ask."

She glanced briefly at the two instruments he'd pointed out and scowled at them. It wasn't surprising what he wanted from her, but it was still incredibly frustrating that she'd ended up in yet another position where she was treated like a show pony. Being queen should mean more than a pretty face in her opinion, but she certainly wasn't going to protest and say that she was capable of dealing with politics and money matters, because she didn't plan to stay.

She had to bite her tongue to avoid spitting a list of insults at him, but in the end she couldn't resist asking, "And if I choose not to?"

"Ah! So she does have a tongue! I was beginning to wonder if you'd lost it somewhere."

"Just answer the question."

"And a sharp tongue at that… how fun. But I doubt you want the answer to your question. Let's just say… you won't like the consequences of disobeying me."

That was such an obvious threat that she didn't need to see his cruel smile to confirm it. It did make her wonder though, what sort of 'consequences' he meant. Would he lock her in the dungeons? Hit her? Starve her? Somehow she didn't think he would publicly humiliate her, since that would also reflect badly on him. She couldn't think of anything that he could do to her that would make her want to obey him…. even physical abuse wasn't much of a deterrent.

He must have seen the obstinate look on her face, because he just smiled again and said, "You'll see."

Then they continued the tour, though he didn't have much more to show her. In fact, the last place he took her to was her own chambers, where she would apparently be sleeping.

He opened the door with a flourish and waved her in ahead of him, saying, "And this is your suite. We can change anything that isn't to your liking of course."

She pursed her lips and walked in, unhappily eyeing the large room that she entered. It was a sitting area with lounges, a coffee table, bookshelves, and other comforts. Traveling further into her new space, she noticed two doors that probably led to a bedroom and a bathroom, unless there were any unexpected surprises. But she didn't really feel like exploring those more personal places with King Eisenwald next to her.

At least the guards had stayed outside.

"Of course you won't be seeing my suite. I'll visit you here."

She wasn't entirely sure what he meant by that, and before she could remind herself not to say anything, she muttered, "Why would I want to see your rooms? And I'd rather you didn't visit mine either."

He laughed. "Unfortunately for you, you don't have a choice. It goes without saying that you'll be fulfilling your role in the bedroom whenever I want you to."

That didn't sound good.

"I can't imagine that I'll be 'entertaining' anyone in my room," she grumbled, referencing the other items he had listed as her 'duties.'

There was a brief pause, then her fiancé chuckled, and she also could hear the other two men snickering from outside her door. It exasperated her to realize that she was missing something important, but she honestly had no idea what it could be. This wasn't a marriage of love, and she seriously doubted he would want to embrace, kiss, or sleep with her like the couples did in the few love stories she'd read.

_She_ definitely didn't want to do any of those things with him.

Shooting him a sharp look, she snapped, "If you mean sleeping together, I don't want you anywhere close to me when I'm asleep, so you can forget that."

That only made him and the others chuckle harder. "Don't worry, when I visit you, neither of us will be sleeping. I intend to sleep in my own bed."

That left her at a loss, and she decided to drop the subject. It was entertaining these men too much, and she didn't want to provide them any amusement at her expense. Shaking her head, she turned away from them all and dismissed them.

"I'm tired and dirty from the trip. I'd rather be alone now."

"That's fine. I'll leave so that you can wash and rest… but your guards will remain outside your door, so don't try to leave. Once we're married, you can have free reign of the castle, but not until then."

She had expected that, but it was still irritating.

He finally left when she didn't say anything else, and the door shut behind him.

For a long moment, she stayed put and crossed her arms, sullenly glaring at the couch across from her as she gave herself permission to mope. Then, with a deep sigh, she grumbled to herself, "Well… guess I better see what I've got to work with…" and started poking around her new space.

The first door she went through turned out to be the bedroom, and she glanced over the furnishings and layout with very little interest.

It was a large room, with enough space that the massive canopy bed on the right didn't overlap the huge window that stood across from the door. Two delicate nightstands bracketed the ornate headboard, one holding a vase of flowers and the other a small lamp. When she looked to the left, she saw a few more pieces of decorative furniture as well – including a floor lamp that matched the one on the nightstand and a spindly table that had another vase of flowers on it.

On that side there was also another door to investigate, and she turned on her heel and marched over to see what was next.

Behind door number two she found a large L-shaped room that consisted of a walk-in closet to the right and a dressing area in front of her. A vanity and a fancy full-length mirror furnished the dressing area, and the closet was already full of clothes that she had to admit were a little interesting. But instead of inspecting her new wardrobe, she went through another door to her left and entered a huge bathroom.

The large tiled space had a sunken tub and shower off to the left that looked too luxurious to be legal, and she immediately wanted to have a bath. Against the righthand wall was a large gold rack of towels, then a series of hooks that had different kinds of robes dangling from them, and lastly a long marble counter and wall mirror. The floor was made up of small white tiles spiced up with the occasional gold tile, the walls were a light coral pink, the fixtures were gold, and the towels and robes were in shades of white, cream, peach, and pink. Fluffy white rugs and small wooden stools dotted the space at key places, finishing off the spa-like bathroom.

If it had been any other situation, Lucy would have been thoroughly enamored by it all, since she happened to love pampering herself with hot baths and showers and other spa-like activities. But under the circumstances, she almost found it offensive that everything was so pretty.

After blinking at that room for a moment, she shook off her awe and walked to the next door that stood across from her. Past that was a smaller – but still fairly spacious – area with a toilet and a sink and yet another door to her left, which she was sure completed the circle and led back into the living room. She poked her head out that door just to verify that her spatial logic was correct, and then retreated back into the bathroom once she saw the living room beyond.

After her exploration was complete, she headed back into the massive bathing room, and decided that she would go ahead and use it even if she didn't want to enjoy the space. After everything she'd been through over the past two days, she figured that she _deserved_ a hot bath.

As she quickly stripped out of the dirty and ripped-up maid outfit that she still wore, she wondered how Aquarius was doing and lightly touched the keys dangling between her breasts. They briefly lit up and then faded back into invisibility when she dropped her hand. It was hard to believe that only twenty-four hours ago, she'd been running around her own castle trying to escape…. it felt like so much had happened since then.

It was even weirder to remember that yesterday morning she'd been looking forward to running away with Natsu. But that thought made her heart throb and do all sorts of things it probably shouldn't, and she decided it would probably be best to try not to think about it.

Focus on her bathing preparations instead helped to distract her, and soon the sunken tub was filling with hot water as she thumbed through the various soap options available, choosing one that smelled nice. Before she got in the tub though, she quickly stepped into the shower just to wash off the worst of the dirt, and by the time she was done the bath was ready.

Stepping into it felt like heaven, and she slid in with a groan, feeling the heat sink into her bones and relieve some of her aches. She felt sore all over, and for a long moment she just rested her head on the rim and floated, her mind drifting. Of course, she couldn't fully relax, but she got as close as she could in the current situation.

After a good thirty minutes of soaking away her stress, she started lathering up her body and completely scrubbed herself from top to bottom twice. There was no amount of soap that could make her feel completely clean right now, since she was having to deal with an emotional kind of dirt that came from being kidnapped and treated like an object. But she knew that she would feel much better after getting away and leaving this whole thing behind her.

Right as she was finishing up, the sound of the door clicking open startled her so much that she shrieked and jumped – splashing a lot of water onto the floor.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, my lady. I didn't mean to frighten you!" a female voice sounded, and Lucy whipped around to see a young woman with wavy dark blond hair, blue eyes, and dressed in a pink ruffly maid's uniform.

"No… it's alright. I just thought…" To be honest, she had suddenly thought that King Eisenwald was walking in on her thanks to all that strange talk from earlier, but she didn't really want to admit to that. "Uhm…nothing. And… uh… who are you?"

She quickly got out of the bath and wrapped the towel she had set next to the tub around herself to preserve some sense of modesty.

"My name is Michelle; I've been assigned as your personal maid."

"Well, you can just call me, 'Lucy,' Michelle."

"Oh no, I couldn't possibly!" she responded, as Lucy suspected she would.

Shrugging, Lucy let it go. She didn't really feel like getting into an argument with the maid, and it probably wouldn't do any good anyways. So instead, she went over to the row of robes and picked out a fluffy one that looked like it would help dry her off. She put it on over the towel and then let the other drop out from underneath.

"May I help you dress, my lady?"

She grimaced just a little, not feeling overly happy about having a nearly complete stranger help her dress, but it depended on the clothes that had been provided. If they were simple enough for her to get into by herself, then she would, but if they weren't… she didn't have much choice in the matter.

"I can dress myself, unless the king gave me extremely complicated clothes."

When Michelle seemed to wilt, Lucy felt a stab of guilt and quickly explained, "It's not you! I just feel awkward about being dressed and undressed by someone I don't really know. Back home, I only ever had two maids who helped me and a nanny before that."

The other woman perked back up and nodded. "I bet that would be strange! And you must miss your maids very much if you only ever had two of them."

The sting of tears threatened her eyes and she quickly blinked, walking into the dressing area as an excuse to hide her face for a moment.

"Yes… I do miss them," she whispered once she'd pulled herself together, and then tried to focus on the clothes in front of her instead of the friends she left behind. If she went down that toilet, it would be hard to come back up for a while.

Thankfully the clothes proved to be a very good distraction as she started browsing through all her new outfits. She'd always liked clothes – the only thing she didn't like about them was being dressed up for other people's pleasure.

In this particular collection, she found the fancy ballgowns and ankle length dresses that she expected, but she was surprised and intrigued by other options that hadn't been available to her back home. It looked like King Eisenwald was more modern than her father and had provided her with dresses and skirts that varied in length up to mid-thigh, not to mention blouses, fine dress pants, and even some expensive looking loungewear. She was impressed despite herself and pursed her lips, getting annoyed again. How dare he make things so nice?

Still, many of these outfits would be much easier to move around in – and therefore easier to escape in – so she couldn't complain too much.

She quickly chose a silky pair of plum colored exercise pants and a white halter top with complicated spaghetti straps crisscrossing all over her back and shoulders. Both were deceptively simple, but she could feel the luxury in their supple cloth and suspected that the little crystals glittering on the top were probably real gems.

When she started to look around, Michelle quickly offered, "Your underwear is in here, my lady!"

She turned to see the maid pulling out drawers in a large dresser, and she wandered over to investigate. Her eyebrows immediately shot up in shock when she saw all the scraps of lace and silk. Fishing out a barely-there pink lace thong by the string, she eyeballed it with a mixture of fascination and confusion. She had a secret love of lingerie, but she knew there wasn't any way that her new fiancé could have guessed that, so she didn't know why he would have gone out of his way to provide such pretty things.

In the end, she decided it didn't really matter, and she picked out a nice set of bra and panties, with the help of Michelle who pointed out the bra that would work best with the shirt she had chosen. Then, when Lucy shed her robe and started to dress, Michelle turned around and started fussing with the vanity, which made Lucy smile and like her even more. She quickly slipped on her chosen outfit, luxuriating in the feeling of stretchy clothing right next to her skin instead of layers and layers of clothes that restricted her movement.

When she was done, she walked over to the vanity and reached for a brush and the conditioner spray, wanting to detangle the rat's nest on her head.

"Here! Let me!" Michelle said eagerly, and grabbed the tools out of Lucy's hands.

Soon Lucy was sitting in front of the other woman, who immediately started to gently untangle the long blond mess. As her new maid worked, Lucy took the time to judge her own reflection in the mirror, looking closely to see if there was any sign that she was starting to fill out a little. After a good long stare, she finally decided that there were a few small changes here and there, but they were barely noticeable.

Ever since she'd decided to run away from home, she had been trying to eat a little more and gain some weight to give her a boost in stamina. Of course, that was easier said than done, and Lucy had found it very difficult to increase her portions without becoming sick – especially when she had to wear a corset. But after a week of effort she was definitely starting to make some progress on that front… which was good, since she would need all the strength she could get to escape from her current predicament.

She was brought out of her musings by Michelle asking, "Would you like me to style your hair any particular way?"

"No. As long as it's untangled, I'm happy," Lucy sighed, relaxing into the light tugs on her scalp.

"But don't you want an updo for dinner?"

"Maybe… but anything fancier than a ponytail would look a little silly with this outfit."

Michelle's hands paused. "You mean you're going to wear this to dinner?"

"… yes?"

"But… the king has requested your presence for dinner… and that means it's probably going to be a fancy affair."

"Michelle… I honestly don't care. To be blunt, I don't want anything to do with King Eisenwald. This marriage was arranged by my father and I'm getting out of here as soon as possible."

Lucy could see her new maid's blue eyes go wide in the mirror and she gasped. "You mean you're going to try to run away?!"

"That's the plan."

She didn't see any harm in telling Michelle, since the king and her guards all knew that she was going to keep trying to get away from them. It definitely wasn't a secret.

But Michelle seemed very upset by the news. "I… I understand not wanting to marry the king…" she said in a hushed whisper, as if scared someone would overhear her. "But you really shouldn't make him angry… he can be very cruel."

Aha, so she was right about him. He was a royal jerk.

Seeing an opening, she took the opportunity to lightly say, "I figured as much. And I'm also assuming he's not a very good king, based off the size of the poor district."

"Well, yes actually. It's a struggle to make ends meet for most of us. But how did you…?"

"My father was the same, so I recognized the signs right away. Even before I came here, I could tell they were cut from the same cloth."

"Oh… well that makes sense."

Finding out that she was right didn't make Lucy feel any better about anything, but she did get some satisfaction from being able to pinpoint his character type so accurately.

…

A few hours later, Lucy found herself sitting across from King Eisenwald at the longer than necessary table he had in his dining hall. Just as Michelle had said, he was dressed in a fine suit and the table was set to the nines with a multicourse meal.

Surprisingly, he hadn't exactly seemed upset about her outfit choice.

Instead, he'd just smiled and said, "As much as I enjoy the way you look in those pants, they're more for recreational use than something to wear to dinner – especially if we have guests. But I'll give you a free pass just for tonight."

She'd only given him a look and started eating in silence.

"The silent treatment will also have to go sooner or later," he chuckled, still sounding more amused than angry.

Once again, she didn't respond, and this time she didn't even look at him.

He huffed another short laugh and said, "Well… whenever you do start talking to me, you're welcome to call me by my first name. Of course, if you'd prefer to call me, 'husband,' or, 'My King,' that's fine too."

She honestly didn't even remember his first name, and there was no way she would ever say the other two. As far as she was concerned, he was 'King Eisenwald'…. anything else sounded too friendly for her tastes. Actually, she thought she might just start calling him 'Eisenwald' and drop the title entirely, since it felt too respectful.

"No thanks," she grumbled, still not looking at him.

"Hm… a response. Maybe you're finally warming up to me."

She rolled her eyes and snorted derisively. "Definitely not."

"Ooh, feisty as always. I hope that doesn't go away once I start training you. It's why I chose you for a bride, you know."

That was so confusing, she had to ask, "You picked me because I was hard to get along with?"

"No, because you have a lot of fight. All the other ladies I was considering were too dull and boring. They were already docile and would've done anything I told them… it wouldn't have been satisfying at all. But _you_ seemed like you would give me a good challenge. I'm going to thoroughly enjoy wrestling you under my control."

Lucy had no idea what to do with that. It sounded like he wanted to control her… but he also wanted her to fight him for that control.

Well… if he wanted a war, he was going to get one. She doubted he would look so smug when she won.

She didn't talk much for the rest of dinner, though he kept talking at her. When they finished – and he finally got bored with her – she was escorted back to her rooms by Racer.

Michelle met her at the door and immediately asked, "How was dinner, my lady?"

"Annoying and dull, but the food was good," she replied without hesitation, startling a surprised chuckle out of the maid.

She quickly sobered though and looked nervously at the door that had just closed behind Lucy. "You should be careful saying such things… it could make the king angry."

Lucy just shrugged. "Apparently he wants me to challenge him, and I don't plan to disappoint."

Michelle winced. "I don't think you should do that, my lady. He'll punish you for sure."

Seeing that she was making her new maid very uncomfortable, Lucy dropped that subject and they chatted about other things while she got ready for bed. She didn't want to make Michelle worry, so she went through the whole process of putting on her nightclothes and everything else, but as soon as the other woman left, Lucy redressed and got ready for an escape attempt.

Earlier, she had immediately noticed that her bedroom window faced the upper half of the mountain behind them, and she figured that after escaping the castle she could disappear over the mountain and into the thick forest on the other side. Then, she could circle back around and enter the slums, where nobody had seen her face yet. If she took some money with her, she might be able to bribe someone into giving her their clothes… and maybe even a boat. It would be risky, but if she bought what she needed and didn't stick around for them to double-cross her, it could work. By then, the king might have put up pictures of her though, so she would have to be very careful.

But first, she had to escape the castle.

So, after dressing in a stretchy black romper that was probably ridiculously expensive, she made her way to the window under consideration and evaluated the situation. If the bricks and stonework were a little more ridged, she probably could have just climbed down without any external assistance, but unfortunately the wall was too smooth for her to get a proper handhold. She was also pretty high up – at least on the third floor if not more – so she had to be careful about getting down or she could break her neck.

There were still options though, and she immediately yanked all the sheets and blankets off her massive bed and started tying them together. When finished, she stretched her makeshift rope out and eyeballed it critically, trying to decide if it was long enough. Unfortunately, she had to go with a 'no' on that question, but she didn't let it get her down and just raided her closet for the sturdiest clothing items she could find and tied them to the end of the rope.

Once it finally looked long enough, she tied one end to her bed's leg and dropped the other out the window. It was totally dark out, so she couldn't see the bottom of the wall very well and couldn't tell if her makeshift rope reached the ground, but she just had to hope her estimation was correct.

For a brief moment she paused, staring out into the night and feeling the salty breeze hit her in the face as she contemplated her chances of success. They weren't great, but she was determined to escape no matter what got in her way.

And so, with a deep breath, she hopped on the windowsill and grabbed onto the rope before jumping out. The shoulder that her father had wrenched immediately protested her putting so much weight on it, but she gritted her teeth and bore with it. Even with the discomfort, it was easy enough to rappel down the outer wall with her makeshift rope, and she was at the bottom in just a few minutes. Unfortunately, the next obstacle she met was significantly harder to overcome than the wall.

When her feet touched the ground, she was immediately serenaded with a slow clap, which had her spinning around in place to try and locate its source.

"Congratulations, you've made me lose my bet. I was sure that you wouldn't try to go out your window, but Cobra was convinced you would. Damn it all… now I owe him a drink… but that'll probably turn into me covering his whole bar tab."

She was staring at Racer, which didn't really bode well for her.

"I don't suppose there's anything I can do to convince you to let me go…" she asked drily, already sure of the answer.

"You don't have much to offer, Sweetheart. You can't really go home and ask for money to bribe me with, now can you?"

She just shrugged in response. What he'd said was true enough, and she didn't want to try and buy him off with the jewelry she had taken from her closet. That would expose her plans to use it in town for a costume and boat passage.

Which only left her one option. She turned and ran, hoping against hope that his name didn't mean he was particularly fast… but she didn't get to hold onto that idea for long. Within just a few seconds, he was suddenly in front of her, and she had to skid to a halt or risk running into him.

"Damn it…" she hissed as she threw her weight backwards to avoid colliding with him.

"Yeah… sorry about that, but you aren't going anywhere."

He seemed like a fairly nice guy, aside from maybe being a little too wired – unlike his surly and untalkative companion, Cobra – but she knew he wasn't going to be nice enough to let her go. If push came to shove, he would definitely shove back, and it was obvious that she'd lost this particular fight.

If only she had a smoke bomb, or some tear gas, or even a banana peel to trip him up, she might've had a chance, but she didn't have anything like that to combat his speed. The only way she _might_ win against him would involve taking him by surprise.

With all that in mind, she intentionally relaxed her body and said, "Alright… I surrender. It's obvious that I can't escape you."

"Smart choice. So… do you want to just climb back up, or do you want me to escort you back to your room through the castle?"

She grimaced and looked up at the rope, which she could see dimly against the wall. At this rate, she might stand a better chance against Cobra, and if she was led back to her room through the castle, then he would know she'd already tried to escape and would be on high alert. Plus, she was embarrassed at being caught and didn't really like the idea of being paraded through the castle for everyone to see.

"I'll climb back up, thank you," she finally replied somewhat stiffly, and he just shrugged and leaned against the wall to watch her.

Without saying anything else, she grabbed the rope again and started ascending at a moderate pace – ignoring the sharp pangs in her injured arm – hoping that he would lose interest and stop watching her eventually. However, every time she glanced back down, he was still watching her, and she silently cussed in her head, wishing he would look away for a moment. If she was close enough to the ground, she might be able to land a surprise attack from above by just dropping down on top of him, but that wouldn't work if he was looking right at her.

Then again… if she dropped from higher up, he might try to catch her and end up getting hurt in the process.

Of course, that also ran the risk of injuring her too, and after some thought, she decided that it might be worth waiting to see if she had a better chance against Cobra. So she climbed all the way back up into her room and shelved the idea of throwing herself back out as a backup plan.

Once her feet were back on solid ground, she paused to catch her breath and come up with a plan to deal with Cobra – rotating her shoulder and rubbing her arm as it throbbed with pain. After much consideration and panting on her bed, the only thing that seemed like a viable option was to somehow lure him into opening the door and knock him out with some kind of heavy object. Which meant that – as soon as she was composed enough to do so – she began hunting for a weapon.

The plunger for the toilet wasn't heavy enough, and the rubber tip probably wouldn't create enough blunt force trauma. A chair could work, but they were all fairly heavy and unwieldy, as were the wooden stools in her bathroom. Towels, belts, and scarves would only work to strangle him, and she really doubted he would stand still long enough for her to get a good hold on him. One of her higher heels could probably do some damage, but she really wanted something with more heft to it… something that could knock him out in one blow.

Finally she settled on a very sturdy lamp with a metal base that seemed like it could get the job done. To make it more aerodynamic, she took off the lampshade and detached the small lacrima crystal that was hooked into the top for light. She didn't really want that thing to come flying off and possibly hit her when she smashed the lamp into his face.

Then, she picked it up and hefted it in her hands, trying it from both ends to see which way would give her the best swing. Unsurprisingly, she ended up holding it from the top where the crystal had been, so she could use the heavier base as a club.

And then came the problem of how to get him in here without creating so much of a ruckus that she alerted Racer or any other guards that might be around. Eventually she determined that knocking something over would probably do the trick… something big enough that it would make a clatter Cobra could hear outside her door, but small enough that it wouldn't attract anyone else's attention. Then, she could yelp or something and see if he took the bait. If that wasn't enough, she supposed she could call out to him and say that she'd hurt herself and needed help.

Looking around, she spied a fairly small sofa table that looked about the right size for making the sort of sounds she wanted, and she swiftly kicked it over – which incidentally made it easy to curse and squawk as she ended up stubbing her toe and bruising her shin in the process. Despite the throbbing, she swiftly hobbled over to the door and waited with bated breath and her weapon raised to see if he would come in and investigate.

There was echoing silence from the other side of the door for a long moment, and she thought she'd have to go to plan B – but then a very sour sounding voice came through.

"What the hell was that? What're you up to in there?"

Thinking fast, she responded with, "It's nothing, I just ran into the side table and knocked it over."

If she asked him to help her right away, he would probably be more suspicious than if she waited and called for help after a couple of minutes – like she'd been too embarrassed to ask at first.

He didn't say anything else to her, but when she gingerly pressed her ear to the door she could hear him muttering to himself… something about, "What the fuck is she doing in there to be knocking over shit?"

It was almost funny, but she easily held in her snickers by reminding herself how serious the situation was. After a few minutes, she called out – carefully trying to make her voice sound hesitant and a little embarrassed.

"Um… I think I might have really hurt my ankle… I can't get up."

"Oh please, you think I'm falling for that? It's the oldest trick in the book."

She silently swore to herself, knowing that he was dead on target, but hoping that she could somehow still pull this off.

"Well fine then, I'll just sleep on the floor!" she huffed loudly, trying to get that right mixture of wounded pride and irritation from someone who hadn't been believed.

"You do that."

Once again, she waited… this time almost an hour even though it nearly killed her. Of course, she didn't stand right by the door holding the lamp the whole time; instead she tried to busy herself by carefully making a more elaborate trap, with a trip wire right under the door for him to fall over and some other obstacles for him to fall onto and hopefully get hurt on. All of it was done with the utmost care to make absolutely no noise.

Then, when she finally felt like she'd waited long enough, she hefted a good amount of exhaustion into her voice – which wasn't hard by this point – and a slightly defeated tone.

"Are you still there?" she called out to the silent door, getting nothing in response. "Hello?" she tried again.

Finally she got an irritated sounding, "What?!" in reply.

With a grin, she tightened her grip on the lamp.

"Look, I'm really tired and I can't sleep. Even if you don't want to help me up, could you at least get me a pillow or something?"

"Seriously?! Do you think I'm stupid? You're right next to a couch! Use those pillows!"

"I have been! But they're couch pillows, not head pillows! My neck is starting to hurt from laying on them like this!"

"Just deal with it."

"Excuse me?!" She started to use the tone of insulted royalty. "I am about to become your queen, and you can't even be bothered to get me a pillow?! When I tell my soon-to-be-husband, the KING, about this, he'll have your head!"

"No he won't, because he'll know that you were trying to escape."

"I'm not! I mean… I _will_ eventually get out of this place, but right now I just want to sleep! Is that too much to ask?!"

She heard him make a loud sound of exasperation and then he growled, "I'd be _happy_ to put you to sleep."

Finally the door handle clicked, and she tightened her grip on the lamp as her heart jumped into her throat. He was obviously pissed, because the door slammed open fairly aggressively – which startled Lucy just a little, but she kept her fists tight on the lamp. As soon as she saw his head, she swung with all her strength.

For a second it looked like she would connect, but he ducked at the last moment and then grabbed her lamp as it swung wild past him. To her horror, the lamp's metal pole melted away in his palm.

She just stared at the heavy bottom for a while after it fell to the floor with a loud clank, feeling a little numb with shock and very confused. The only explanation she could come up with was that Cobra had some sort of acid magic… which didn't seem like a safe thing to mess with. Maybe she'd been better off with Racer after all.

"Called it," he said drily, sounding a little pleased with himself – but still very irritated.

He hadn't tried to come in – probably because he'd suspected she would try something like this – so he hadn't fallen victim to any of the other traps she'd set up, and she was left facing off against a very angry and apparently very dangerous man.

"Um…" she squeaked, grabbing the door and starting to close it. "I'll just…"

"Oh no you don't. You said you wanted to sleep, and that's exactly what you're gonna do," Cobra growled, kicking the door back open and easily stepping over her trip wire into the room.

Lucy backed up quickly, almost tripping over the obstacles she'd set up for him, and waved her hands around to try and fend him off. "Yeah, I got it, I'll go to bed right now."

"Yes you will, and I'm making sure that you'll stay there."

Before she knew what hit her, he'd lunged and grabbed her with one hand on the back of her neck, which immediately started burning. Remembering how he'd melted that lamp just a few minutes ago, she yelped and started struggling, terrified that he was going to do something similar to her neck. Her thrashing didn't last long though, because a wave of numbness almost instantly followed the burn, passing down her whole body within just a few seconds. On the heels of that was a wave of intense dizziness that would have made her sick if she could feel her stomach, but it still threatened to force her unconscious.

The numbness quickly stole her ability to move, and as soon as she went limp Cobra hoisted her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. With very little ceremony, he carried her into her room and dumped her onto the bed, which was incredibly disturbing when she couldn't feel any of it.

"There. Now you won't be causing any more trouble."

"Wait! What did you do to me?!" Lucy urgently called as he turned to leave.

He shot her a look over his shoulder and unempathetically huffed, "I used a paralysis poison on your spine. You won't be able to move until tomorrow morning. So shut up and go to sleep already."

Then he exited the room, leaving her helpless and sick.

* * *

_Sneak Peek_

_She balked, panicking for a second and digging in her heels. Her life flashed before her eyes as if she was about to die, but instead of her past she saw the future… years of loneliness, lovelessness, and sadness… a dark empty void that wanted to eat her whole._

_The guards must have seen her terror because they paused for a second to let her collect herself, which she was extremely grateful for. She took advantage of the brief moment to remind herself that she wouldn't be living the rest of her life here… she would escape and live her own life the way she wanted to._

_When her time was up, the guards tightened their grip on her, putting her into a lock with their hands on her upper arms and shoulder blades to keep her upper body completely immobilized. She forced herself to inhale several deep gulps of air to steady her fractured nerves a little._

_One lowly muttered, "That's right, just breathe through it. It'll all be over quickly enough."_

* * *

Yeah... so... we have angst with a side of really bad going on right now. Poor Lucy...

Just a heads up, next chapter is gonna be the rough one.

As always, if anyone would like hints or warnings about what's coming up, I'll do my best to answer any questions you may have in the reviews.


	15. CH 15: Worst Case Scenario

**Author's Note:**

It's Sunday! And that means it's time for a new chapter. ;D

Okay, so first of all, as always, HUGE thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers. BIG hugs and kisses to: valerioux, sakshishetty3003, stranger1999, Jedi Jelsa777, Cino2K, MajorPain67, ABT4Life, Ninja-Turtle Charlie, savwafair, Starstruck-MJ, and NarukoSon.

Also, special Happy B-Day wishes to NarukoSon! ;D

Now, before we begin, I have an **IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!**

**PLEASE BE ADVISED!**

**Towards the end of this chapter, there will be a VERY BAD SCENE. One that could be very TRIGGERING. I will make a nice big warning at that time, so if anyone wants to skip it they can.**

Alright, now that that's out of the way, let's get on with the show!

Buckle up folks, this one is going to be a rough ride.

* * *

Lucy lay awake most of the night despite the intense dizziness that kept trying to knock her unconscious. However, no matter how hard she strained to move, her body was completely unresponsive and she stayed in the spot Cobra had tossed her.

Somehow she clung onto the belief that she would figure out how to move or break out of the paralysis before morning, but when her room started to slowly light up with the sunrise she could feel herself begin to lose her last shreds of hope. Dread replaced it as she finally realized that there was no escaping from this and she was quickly running out of time.

The hopelessness of it all finally hit her, and she crumpled under the impact…staring blankly up at the canopy above her until her eyes burned from not blinking. It was a shock to realize she'd never once considered that she might not be able to escape before the wedding, and that made her failure even more crushing since she was unprepared for it.

The shock numbed her for a long icy moment, but soon she began to feel pressure slowly building up inside and knew that a lot of pain was about to slap her in the face. She braced herself as much as she could, but she still wasn't ready for the full weight of despair when it slammed down. Whatever hope she'd had left completely died, shredding into threads that slipped through her fingers, as she absorbed the fact that she really was about to marry King Eisenwald.

That was bad enough, but a fresh stab of pain hit her when she followed that train of thought to its conclusion.

She would never be with Natsu. She probably wouldn't even see him again.

Lucy had known she was in love with him, as crazy as it seemed in the short amount of time they'd known each other, but it took losing him to realize just how deep those feelings really went. Shards of grief snapped through her at every thought that passed through her mind. She would never see his smile again… never hear his laugh again… never feel his warmth and safety again… never laugh or get mad at him again… never fight or play or talk with him again… never share any beautiful, stupid moments with him…

Layers of memories sent layers of loss shooting through her like fire, and she was left wondering, _'How can love hurt this much?' _

It was so painful that she almost regretted ever meeting him. _Almost._ No amount of hurt would ever make her truly wish that she'd never had Natsu as part of her life… he had done too much for her, helped her experience too many things, and had woken up parts of her that she hadn't even known existed. He was part of who she was now, and she wouldn't change that for the world.

Even if she never saw him again, he would always be with her.

At that thought, she was able to regain some of her strength. The tears that had been streaming down her face trickled to a stop, and she sniffed until her nose was clear enough to breathe through again.

She knew good and well that she probably wouldn't be able to get away before King Eisenwald had made her his wife, but she wouldn't just sit around and take it without fighting back. She refused to make any part of this heinous process easy for her fiancé. And if she ended up married, she would just continue to fight back. There was nothing they could do to keep her here, because she was willing to do whatever she had to… lie, steal, cheat, fight, deceive, backstab, network, make allies, learn the city and all the best hiding places, and maybe even buy her own boat and learn how to sail it if she had to.

Nobody was perfect… her '_husband_' had to slip up eventually, and as soon as he did, Lucy intended to be out of here so fast it would make his head spin.

With her confidence and will boosted again to semi-reasonable levels, she was able to pull herself together. As soon as her neck regained some feeling, she started trying to push and pull the rest of her body with just her head… which quickly strained her neck and gave her a monster headache. It also didn't work, and eventually she had to give up on it or risk getting a crick that would immobilize her neck for probably a week at least.

Unfortunately, that meant she was stuck waiting around for more of her body to thaw out, and it wasn't until the sun had risen quite a bit more that she was able to move her shoulders, chest, and arms enough to actually start shifting herself around on the bed. It still took a lot of effort though, and she felt like an inchworm as she slowly scooted herself to the nearest edge. She was thoroughly out of breath and very sore by the time she finally reached it.

After a short break to catch her breath, she promptly scooted the last bit needed to make her tumble to the floor, and she landed in an uncoordinated heap. Luckily her bedroom was carpeted, so the fall only made her headache worse instead of braining her when she smacked her skull against the ground. However, the harsh landing did hurt her shoulder, and a shard of pain forced a loud yelp from her.

A few moments later, as if summoned by the squawk of pain, her bedroom door burst open and her new maid rushed in.

"Lady Lucy! My lady! My lady?! Where are you?! Are you okay?!" Michelle called, sounding panicked.

Lucy heard Michelle's footsteps hurry around the bed and then heard her gasp when the maid saw her new mistress crumpled up in a probably really strange-looking position on the floor.

"My lady! What happened?!"

Gentle hands landed on her, carefully patting her down to check for injuries.

"M'fine… just fell out of bed…" Lucy mumbled into the carpet and Michelle immediately helped her to turn over.

"Are you hurt my lady?"

"I twisted my shoulder a bit when I landed, but I think it's okay," she responded, rotating it a little to check.

"I'm so glad that you're alright… you really worried me for a moment."

There was an awkward pause as Lucy's new friend stayed kneeling on the ground with her, obviously waiting for Lucy to move from her spot on the floor.

"So… there's a story behind this whole situation," Lucy started as an explanation, clearing her throat a little. "Um, I tried to escape last night, and Cobra caught me. I didn't know he could use magic, but… he can… and he did… and now I'm paralyzed for a while. I've got some mobility back, but not a whole lot."

She paused and wiggled what she could move to show Michelle, who looked fairly horrified by what she'd just heard.

"That's… awful, my lady. How are you so calm? If it was me, I would be much more upset."

"To be honest, I had a meltdown earlier when I realized that I probably wouldn't escape before the wedding… so I'm not exactly calm. I'm more resigned than anything else, I guess."

Michelle grimaced and hesitantly offered, "This life won't be so bad… even the king isn't completely awful. He's… pleasant enough, as long as he doesn't get mad. You can probably do whatever you like, as long as you obey him, and you can spend the rest of your time doing whatever makes you happy. Um… I was told that you enjoy literature and music…"

Lucy was already shaking her head before the other woman had even finished. "No. I've lived my whole life like that under my father's control, and I've had enough. I want to be free to make my own choices. Even if I end up married and can't be with the man I love, at least I can have my own freedom."

"The man you love? Did you… were you in love with someone else before your engagement to King Eisenwald?"

Lucy sighed and nodded, trying not to let herself get too depressed again and not succeeding very well. "We were going to run away together… but then I made my father angry and he rushed this engagement to punish me. King Eisenwald took me the same day I was supposed to leave with Natsu…"

She must have looked as down as she felt, because Michelle's eyes immediately filled up and she started bawling with sympathy, much to Lucy's surprise.

"Th-that's s-so saaaad! I'm so s-sorry!" she wailed, and a second later Lucy found herself in a warm – if slightly wet – hug.

She accepted the comforting gesture and discovered that she had regained a lot more mobility in her arms when she wrapped them around the other woman. However, being hugged and listening to Michelle cry just made her want to cry as well, so she had to break the embrace fairly quickly.

Since she was already sitting up, she did a status check on the rest of her body and was very happy to note that at least her upper half had most of its feeling back, but her lower parts were still very numb.

Michelle must have noticed what she was doing, because she sniffled and asked, "How is it? Can you stand yet?"

"I don't think so… my legs are still numb."

"Do you want me to help you up onto the bed?"

Lucy shook her head and used her hands to start rearranging her legs into a more comfortable position. "This is fine. I'll just stay here until it's worn off."

"Then I'll stay with you," her maid said, shifting around as well into a more comfortable position and adjusting her poofy skirt.

Right about that moment, a new maid came bustling into the room, announcing, "I've brought the dress!"

She was obviously expecting a different scene, because when she rounded the bed and saw them sitting on the ground, she pulled to a stuttered halt. "Um… is everything okay? Did you injure yourself, my lady?"

Lucy eyed the new blue-haired maid and decided she was young and probably somewhat inexperienced, so she took it easy on her.

Giving the other woman a small smile, she said, "I had a disagreement with Cobra last night, and he used his magic to paralyze me. I'm still numb from the waist down, so I can't stand."

"Oh! That's… what… um…" the bluenette stammered, completely taken aback and awkwardly not knowing what to say.

"It's alright, don't worry about it," Lucy quickly said, trying to help her calm down.

"But… if you can't stand, how will you get dressed for the wedding?!"

Lucy snorted, not sure if the amusement she was feeling was dark humor or just a weird mixture of sleep-deprivation, loopiness, and depression. "That's easy. I'm not going to get dressed for the wedding."

"B-what?! What do you mean?! You have to start getting ready soon or you won't be ready for the ceremony at 2:00!"

"Okay, look. Here's the deal… I don't want to be married to King Eisenwald. This marriage was arranged by him and my father without my consent. So I'm going to do everything I can to avoid it, or at least make things more difficult for him. That includes refusing to get ready for the wedding."

Even though Lucy had tried to word it as gently and inoffensively as possible, the maid looked like a deer about to be shot, with wide frightened eyes. She glanced back and forth between Lucy and Michelle.

"I… um… I'm sorry… I don't understand…"

"I know how you feel, Kinana, but she really is determined to oppose the king," Michelle offered sympathetically, obviously understanding why the other maid – Kinana apparently – was so upset.

"The king won't be pleased to hear about this…" she murmured quietly, sharing a worried look with Michelle, who nodded in agreement.

"I don't really care," Lucy sighed, shaking her head.

That had the two maids sharing another glance, and Kinana bit her lip and quietly muttered, "I'd better go tell the head house-maid that Lady Lucy doesn't plan to get ready…"

Michelle grimaced but it looked like she couldn't come up with a better idea, so she just shrugged helplessly at the other woman, who turned and bustled away.

Once they were alone again, Michelle turned back to Lucy and hesitantly asked, "But… my lady, aren't you scared that he'll… hurt you later tonight? If you make him angry?"

"I doubt he can do anything worse than my father already did… although I guess he could hit me more often or harder."

"… But… um… I meant…"

To Lucy's confusion, she was quickly turning red and looked embarrassed.

"What?"

"I… uh… what about… _tonight_? When he visits you… in your chambers…?"

Lucy cringed at the thought. "Ugh, I certainly hope he doesn't. I can't imagine why he would."

When the other woman blinked and stared at her with a blank shocked expression, Lucy figured out that they were talking about the same mysterious thing that had amused Eisenwald and his guards yesterday evening.

"You… you can't possibly… you do know about… _**that**_… right?"

The maid's expression was a strange mixture of embarrassment, utter shock, and disbelief… which only got worse when Lucy carefully repeated, "Um, '_that_?' That what?"

"You know…" When Lucy just shook her head, Michelle lowered her voice to a hushed whisper and blushed even harder. "… _Intercourse_?... _**Sex**_?..."

The words were familiar, but Lucy didn't know what she really meant by them. Intercourse could mean anything from a social function to a simple conversation, and she hadn't ever really heard of sex – aside from the one time Natsu had mentioned it. She'd heard people say that they found someone 'sexy,' but she had always assumed it was just another way of saying someone was handsome or beautiful… and it had never been a noun.

Besides, even if her new fiancé thought she was beautiful, he'd already acquired her, so she didn't know what that had to do with anything. What more could he do? She doubted he loved her, so there was no reason for him to want to touch her.

"I still don't really know what you're talking about…"

Michelle's jaw dropped, and she sputtered, fumbling for words a while. Right when it looked like she'd found them, they were interrupted again by more women coming into the room. There were four of them this time and they all looked seasoned and serious, so Lucy suspected that the head housemaid – or maybe even the king himself – had ordered them to force her into the wedding dress.

"It's time to get ready, Your Highness," what seemed to be the ringleader of the group said.

The woman was large in every possible way, tall and broad with impressive muscles, and she had a face that looked like she'd been run into a wall. Even her pink hair didn't do much to soften her appearance, and Lucy had never seen a more formidable looking opponent, though the other women were nothing to sneeze at either. Two of them – including the leader – were obviously maids based off their uniforms, but the other two were female guards. That was a huge surprise to Lucy, who came from a kingdom where women couldn't become guards, and she grudgingly gave one point to her fiancé for at least being less chauvinistic than her father.

Still, that didn't change her current situation.

"I refuse," she calmly told the group as she tried to stand – and failed.

"I'm sorry, Highness, but that's not an option. We have been ordered to prepare you for the wedding ceremony."

"Then I also apologize. I don't want to fight any of you, but I refuse to quietly accept a marriage I don't want."

They stalled for a moment, just absorbing that statement. She could see new respect and understanding in their eyes, but otherwise their expressions remained flat and serious.

"If you don't cooperate, we will be forced to do what's necessary."

"Fine. Have at it then." She briefly shot a look at Michelle. "You might want to leave, this isn't going to be pretty, and I don't want you to get caught up in it."

Her newest friend looked torn, glancing back and forth between them all, but in the end she gave Lucy one last worried look and then rushed out.

Once she was gone, the other women marched forwards to scoop Lucy up. She was just starting to get some feeling back in her legs, but they still couldn't hold her weight – as she'd just proved a little while ago – so there wasn't any way for her to get away from them.

But that didn't mean she was totally helpless.

When the two guards went to grab her, she lashed out with both arms, using her elbows, fists, nails, and anything else she could think of to try and keep them from getting a hold of her. She was able to actually knock their hands off her repeatedly for a while, but eventually one managed to latch onto her upper arm, and that made it easier for the other to grab her.

They picked her up between them, which wasn't super fun for her hurt shoulder and arm, but she dealt with it and thrashed anyways to make it harder for them to hold onto her. Her legs had enough feeling to kick weakly, but that didn't accomplish much since the guards were wearing armored shin guards and very sturdy boots.

In the end, the whole exercise made her feel like a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum, and she wound up feeling pretty pathetic.

Near the dressing room door, Lucy went limp and contemplated whether it was worth it to keep fighting when it only made her look weak. On the one hand, she didn't particularly care what these women thought of her… but she also didn't really like how it felt. On the other hand, there wasn't anything else she could think of to fight back against the plans King Eisenwald and her father had made for her… and giving up didn't feel good either.

Meanwhile, they just kept dragging her between them into the dressing room. By the time they got inside and started stripping her, Lucy had decided that when everything was said and done, she would rather feel weak and stupid than feel like she hadn't given it her all.

However, she did plan to be a little smarter and strategic, and she thought carefully about what her next move should be. She noticed that being limp and unresponsive seemed to give them problems, so she went even limper until they had to deal with deadweight. An added benefit to that tactic was that it also gave her time to think about what she should do next… which was definitely something she needed, because she was almost working with nothing.

Escaping altogether was out of the picture with her legs still super wobbly and weak, so the most she could hope for was to delay them – ideally until the ceremony just fell apart and everyone rescheduled. Of course that was just wishful thinking on her part, and she knew that… but it was still something to aim for.

She basically just needed to make their job as difficult to complete as she could, and with that thought in mind she started wracking her brain for ideas. The first to come was obvious… she could just switch between being limp and active as unpredictably as possible, which might end up giving her other opportunities as well. If she could get away from them, she might be able to scoot her way into the bathroom and lock herself in… or something.

One started yanking on her shirt, and the two holding her arms loosened their grips temporarily so they could grab her wrists and pull her arms above her head. She instantly felt the difference and saw her chance. Without even thinking about it, she snapped out of her limp mode and into action, ripping her arms out of their looser hold and clamping them tight to her sides. She worked on instinct and curled into a tight fetal ball on the ground, wrapping her arms around her thighs and clamping her calves down over her arms. Her hands gripped the opposite elbow to lock herself in, and she tucked her head down as well to complete the ball.

That confounded them for long time, and it took one person pulling on each of her ankles and the other two yanking on her shoulders to force her to unfold. When they finally did pull her apart, she felt at least a little accomplished on stalling them for a good while… even if the position she then found herself in was less than glamourous.

They pinned her to the ground, each controlling one of her limbs and all of them working together to remove her clothing. For the moment, seeing as she couldn't do anything, she went utterly limp again to try and lure them into another false sense of security. It was difficult to stay completely relaxed while they stripped her naked, but she forced herself to put up with the humiliation and bided her time.

Their grips slowly loosened on her little by little again, and she suspected they didn't even notice… but she certainly did. She waited until just the right moment, and then while they were in the middle of wrestling a pair of lacy panties on her feet, she suddenly whipped a leg free. She finally had all of her feeling back in her lower body – probably from moving around so much and getting her blood flowing – so the strength in her legs had increased substantially since her feeble kicks earlier.

It took them by surprise, and she managed to kick both maids off her, getting her other leg in on the action too. She wasn't aiming to hurt them, but accidentally connected with one of their noses. That maid fell back with a nasty nosebleed and Lucy winced, wanting to apologize but not having the time. She was too busy using the guards' temporary surprise and distraction to try and wiggle her arms free as well. Now that her legs were back to normal, she had a chance of actually running away.

They obviously realized that too though, because they bore down on her even harder, keeping her pinned in place until the two maids regrouped.

The one with the nosebleed stuffed tissue in her nostrils and then assisted the other in trying to catch Lucy's flailing legs again, which took them a while since she also twisted her hips and torso to keep away from them. Of course, she was still butt naked, and under normal circumstances she never would have been moving in the ways she was moving – it exposed too much of her body and was downright mortifying. However, she just forced herself to not think about it and only focused on her objective.

Eventually they did catch her legs of course, and this time their hands held her much more tightly as they dressed her. They managed to completely get her strapped into her underwear – which did include a corset, but it was the kind that snapped closed in the front instead of lacing up the back, and it was a lot looser and easier than the ones she was used to. Then they wrestled her to her feet and started to try stuffing her in the wedding dress. Staying a ragdoll definitely impeded their progress on that front, and they had to really struggle to get all her limbs in the right places.

At one point, they were too focused on the dress and not enough on her, and she saw another opening to take advantage of. Once again, she snapped out of noodle mode and started thrashing around, actually managing to get free for a split second. She took off running, aiming for the bathroom, but they tackled her before she'd made it more than three steps and immediately restrained her again.

"Well, you certainly are a handful…" the ringleader grumbled as she laced up the back of Lucy's wedding gown.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Lucy huffed right back, obviously having just as good a time as them.

That got a couple of snorts from different women present.

As soon as the dress was on, they tried to put her shoes on as well – being very careful about handling her legs so she couldn't kick anyone again. However, as soon as they let her go, she kicked her shoes off, sending both high heels flying across the room and nearly beaning one of them in the head.

After that, they decided to put those on last and focused on her makeup and hair instead. One of the guards tied her wrists together behind her back with a scarf she grabbed from Lucy's closet, and then pushed her down by her shoulders into the seat in front of her vanity, staying there to hold her in place. Both maids set to work on her hair and makeup, but Lucy tossed her head to try and keep them off her… which naturally resulted in the guard switching her grip from Lucy's shoulders to her head to keep her still.

After that, there was nothing much Lucy could do, so she just had to sit there and take it with as much dignity as she could muster.

Once she was fully primped and polished, the maids put new shoes on her feet – this time a pair with straps that latched them onto her ankles so she couldn't kick them off. Then, once the final touch was completed, the two guards each took one of her arms and proceeded to march her out of her chambers.

She was helpless, and it was difficult to keep her depression and anxiety from overwhelming her again as they dragged her closer and closer to a future without Natsu. Once this ceremony was completed, she knew she would never be able to be with him the way she desperately wanted to. That thought alone was terrifying enough by itself… never mind all the other reasons why she didn't want to get married.

It took everything inside her to stay strong and not give up, even when she knew it was hopeless. The glue holding her together started to crumble, and a brief thought of, '_What's the point of freedom if I can't be with him?_' ran through her head, but she dug in her metaphorical heels and forced herself to push it out of her mind. She couldn't afford to think those kinds of thoughts and gritted her teeth against the pain of losing Natsu so she could concentrate only on getting free and having her own life.

It had been a lot easier to do in her room, when she wasn't so close to the actual act, but she somehow pushed through and recentered herself before they reached the throne room.

And then she was being dragged through the huge double doors and in front of that long white runner she had seen yesterday. The room was full of people who all turned to look at her as she appeared, and a hush fell over the crowd. She barely even saw them though, because she was too busy staring down the alter and her future husband – who was in full royal regalia complete with crown and cape.

She balked, panicking for a second and digging in her heels. Her life flashed before her eyes as if she was about to die, but instead of her past she saw the future… years of loneliness, lovelessness, and sadness… a dark empty void that wanted to eat her whole.

The guards must have seen her terror because they paused for a second to let her collect herself, which she was extremely grateful for. She took advantage of the brief moment to remind herself that she _wouldn't_ be living the rest of her life here… she would escape and live her own life the way she wanted to.

When her time was up, the guards tightened their grip on her, putting her into a lock with their hands on her upper arms and shoulder blades to keep her upper body completely immobilized. She forced herself to inhale several deep gulps of air to steady her fractured nerves a little.

One lowly muttered, "That's right, just breathe through it. It'll all be over quickly enough."

She gave a short jerky nod in reply, appreciating the small offering of comfort.

There was literally no point in fighting, she knew perfectly well that she couldn't get free, and she didn't want to look like an idiot in front of all these people by thrashing around like a lunatic for no reason. So, she lifted her chin and glared daggers at her fiancé as she walked down the aisle as regally as she could manage.

The sound of the crowd murmuring in surprise and disapproval from her being marched down the aisle by a couple of guards didn't even reach her ears over the noise of her heart and breathing. And all the while, her future husband watched from the alter with a smug smile… which made her want to stab him with her shoe.

When she finally reached the end and had tripped up the steps, King Eisenwald shooed off the guards, saying, "Well done, you may go."

Naturally, Lucy prepared to bolt, but he saw that coming and before she could move a muscle the strange sensation of wind wrapped around her upper body, immobilizing her in a tight cyclone that felt like a snake coiled around her. The air was moving so fast that it burned any piece of bare skin it touched and she had to hold back a wince.

"Alright, let us begin the ceremony!" the priest next to them exclaimed with pomp and circumstance, making Lucy jump a little with surprise. She'd barely even noticed the man with how hard she had been glaring at Eisenwald.

"If I say 'no' will that make a difference?" she quietly asked, and both men shook their heads. So she zipped her lips and bit her tongue.

As declared, the priest then proceeded with the ceremony, skipping over the parts where she had to say 'yes' to anything, as well as any parts where someone might have been able to object.

Afterwards, there came a time for her to sign the document that would become their marriage certificate, and her new husband forced her hand to go through the motions, creating a very sloppy and wobbly scribble that could have been her name. Eisenwald signed after her, then the priest, and finally several people from the audience signed as witnesses.

A seal was placed on the document, and then it was rolled up like a scroll that the priest handed to Eisenwald, saying, "You are now husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Lucy scowled, not expecting him to go through with it when he obviously didn't have any affection towards her. So, when he smiled and leaned in, she gaped at him in shock, utterly confused about why he seemed to be doing it.

Of course there was nowhere for her to go because he had her wrapped up tight in his wind funnel, and his hand came to rest on the back of her head to prevent it from moving as well. When she turned her face away, he grabbed her chin and forced her back around, which only left her to squeeze her eyes closed and suck her lips into her mouth, clamping them down tight between her teeth. He sighed and chuckled, and then she felt him kiss her skin, where her lips would normally be if she wasn't biting them.

He released her a second later, and she glared up at him with aggravation and confusion. She could only imagine that he'd felt obligated to do it for the sake of the ceremony and hoped he got as much pleasure from the act as she did – which was less than none.

…

.

…

Natsu crawled off the last train and flopped face first onto the platform.

He'd finally reached Hargeon after a day and night of pure hell and groaned with relief that he was back on solid ground. That'd been the longest he'd ever ridden a moving vehicle of any kind, and his stomach wanted him to die for doing it. He bounced back from short trips pretty fast, but he was gonna be laid out flat for a while after this one. Just getting on his hands and knees wasn't happening anytime soon.

And it wasn't over… as soon as he pulled himself together, he had to catch a ship to Balsam. Just thinking about it made him wanna puke again.

He was kinda shocked that he'd been able to get off the train at all… it was a freakin' miracle. But he hadn't gone very far, and everyone else getting off the train tripped over him on the way out.

He got stepped on and cussed at plenty. And to top it all off, somebody must've been carrying an open beer or something, 'cause they dumped it all over Natsu when they stumbled and then yelled at him a bunch for making them spill. He didn't really care though, 'cause he was too busy getting even sicker from the smell of alcohol.

A couple minutes later, two people came over and lifted him up between them by his arms… probably to move him outta the way.

One of the guys holding him laughed and said, "Alright. Come on, Bud… let's get you back to the station and you can sleep it off."

The other guy grumbled, "Dang… he's totally wasted. And he reeks."

"Yep, somebody doesn't know how to hold their liquor."

He didn't really get what they were talking about, he was too sick to listen to them, but he kinda wished he had when they tossed him in the back of a magic mobile and started driving him off somewhere. That immediately made him hurl – though he didn't have anything to toss up.

He tried to tell them to stop, but it only came out as "URP! Guh… don'… ugh…"

They ignored him. But at least the trip was short, and they were dragging him back outta the car in a couple of minutes.

He got carried somewhere, and then they dropped him on a hard bench-thing and he heard a bunch of clanging that made his head hurt.

"Alright, you get to stay here tonight and sober up. We'll let ya go in the morning after you pay your fine," one of them said, and then he guessed they left.

…

.

…

Meanwhile, Lucy was stuck at the after-wedding banquet, feeling almost as miserable as Natsu.

It seemed to last forever, and by late evening Lucy was ready to pull her hair out. It would have been bad enough if she just had to sit there and eat food – or pretend to eat, since her appetite had officially gone bye-bye with all the anxiety and depression pummeling her flat – but Eisenwald made it worse by forcing her to actually dance with him. He used his magic, so she wasn't given a choice in the matter when his wind wrapped around her. She would have thought that would actually make it impossible for her to dance, but he made her hover an inch above the ground and manhandled her in large circles around the dance floor.

She couldn't stand the feel of his hands on her and didn't bother to hide her displeasure. If her glares weren't clear enough, she also fussed at him nonstop.

But he didn't respond to her repeated hisses of, "Stop! I said I don't want to dance!" and, "Are you deaf?! Get your hands off me!"

All he did was laugh and mildly make fun of her, which only made her more frustrated and unhappy.

So, by the time she was finally allowed to leave, Lucy was in a positively foul mood and returned to her chambers in an irritated huff. She slammed the door behind her, unfortunately scaring Michelle into squeaking and jumping a foot into the air.

"Oops, sorry…" Lucy apologized with an exhausted chuckle. Honestly she was surprised she could laugh at all after the day she'd just had, and the small smile quickly dropped off her face.

She couldn't believe she was now married to that… disgusting jerk. It was a fact that haunted her, and she felt a little lost, swinging between anger, revulsion, horror, and depression. Right now she was a little too shell-shocked to think about plans for the future. All she wanted to do was take a hot bath and go to bed, and maybe in the morning she would be able to concentrate on how to escape.

Her lack of attention also meant that she accidentally zoned out while Michelle was talking.

When she realized what she was doing, Lucy apologetically asked, "Oh, sorry… I missed that. What did you say?"

Michelle sent her a sympathetic smile that said she knew why Lucy was spacy. "It's alright, Highness. I just said that I've drawn a bath for you… if you'd like to take one."

"Oh, that's great, Michelle. Thank you so much," she sighed, already feeling a little of the tension ease from her shoulders.

She didn't waste any time hurrying into the bathroom and stripping out of the wedding dress with Michelle's help. Honestly, it would make her feel absolutely wonderful to see the thing destroyed.

"By any chance, could we burn that?" she asked as she sank into the water, waving her hand at the dress that Michelle was picking up off the ground.

"I… yes, I can do that," the maid sputtered, unsure for a moment and then perking up and getting on board with the idea – much to Lucy's delight.

"That would be wonderful…"

Lucy sighed again and closed her eyes, letting the hot water soak into her bones and trying to focus on just physical sensations instead of her frozen mess of emotional wounds. Really, it felt like her heart had been torn out, chopped up, stuck in a freezer, mixed up with all sorts of nasty disgusting things, and then shoved back into her chest. Even the hot water couldn't totally thaw her out, and she wondered if she'd ever feel completely warm again.

That was a depressing thought, and she shoved it to the back of her mind with the rest.

Her dark musings were brought to a halt though by Michelle hesitantly saying, "Um… my lady… we should probably get you ready for His Highness's arrival."

Lucy's eyes popped open and she scowled at the other woman. "Why the hell would he come to my room tonight? He just spent all day making me miserable! If he shows up, I'm going to throw him right back out."

Of course, there was no way she could make him leave if he didn't want to, but she really had no idea why he would want to stay… or, for that matter, why he'd want to come in the first place. What more could he possibly do to make her day worse?

"W-well… I'm sure he will want to consummate the marriage as soon as possible…"

Once again, Lucy was reminded that she was missing a big piece of the puzzle, and it finally bothered her enough to say something about it. "Alright, everyone keeps talking about him visiting me at night, and I know I _have_ to be missing something, because nobody will give me a straight answer. What's going on here? Why does he plan to visit my room? What do you mean by, 'consummate the marriage?'"

Michelle bit her lip and looked away, which only aggravated Lucy more. "See! Like that! And earlier you started to explain but we got interrupted."

"Um… I… I didn't expect you to be so… er… innocent is all… I wasn't really prepared to give you a lesson in… well… sex."

When Lucy just gave her a flat stare and said, "Well, please do," Michelle gulped and wrung her hands, glancing at the clock.

"Okay… but we should talk while I get you ready."

"Fair enough."

Even though she didn't want to, she stepped out of the bath and started toweling off.

"Please continue."

"W-well… I guess for starters… you know that he'll expect you to bear his children, right?"

Lucy grimaced, but nodded, squeezing out her hair to get the last few drops.

"And I'm guessing that you don't know how a woman gets pregnant?"

At that, she paused, realizing for the first time that she really _didn't_ know how that happened. Of course she knew that a woman's stomach swelled up as a baby grew inside her womb, but she had no idea how it got there. It was weird, because she hadn't ever even bothered to think about it before... there had always been too many other things for her to worry about.

Michelle accurately interpreted her befuddled silence and sighed, handing Lucy a robe to put on.

"That's what I was afraid of… Well… _**sex**_is how you get pregnant."

Dread settled in Lucy's stomach with the weight of a huge stone. "And that's what Eisenwald wants to do tonight? Sex?"

"Yes…"

"What… what exactly _**is**_ sex?"

"Um… that's the awkward part…" Michele said with a cringe as she ushered Lucy into the dressing room and handed her some barely-there panties that she slipped on under her robe.

"Men and women have different body parts, and uh… well same-sex couples can have sex too, but… that's a different conversation."

Lucy temporarily lost her. She knew about women loving women romantically and the same with men, so she wasn't too confused, but she wasn't sure what that had to do with what they were talking about. Michelle also seemed to have gotten herself sidetracked, but soon she refocused and continued to speak as she gave Lucy a very sheer nightgown to slip over her head.

"Let's just stick to how babies are made. Um… men and women have different body parts that… fit together." She paused for half a second, and then took a deep breath and rushed through the next bit so fast that Lucy had to pay very close attention to catch it all.

"A man has a stick-like thing, which gets hard, and the woman has a hole that the man puts his thing into. Then the man ejaculates semen into her, and it goes up into her womb and connects with her egg and fertilizes it. And that's where babies come from."

After that very quick statement, Michelle panted for breath and Lucy was left to look at her blankly… feeling very, very lost. All she'd managed to gather was that men had a body part that could get hard and somehow go inside of a woman, which frankly sounded painful and strange to Lucy. She had always vaguely assumed that the belly button was somehow connected to birth and pregnancy, so she wondered if that was where this 'thing' would get shoved into her.

'_What a horrifying idea_…' she thought to herself, feeling mildly queasy.

As for the talk of semen and eggs… she had no idea what to make of that. She'd never heard of a woman having eggs inside her before, and the idea was almost funny if she thought too hard about it. It had to be impossible, because women didn't lay eggs… they weren't birds for heaven's sake. What in the world was Michelle talking about?!

She was almost convinced that the maid was joking or something… except the other woman looked utterly serious. The only other explanation was that someone else had given Michelle bad information, and she was just passing it on to Lucy.

"Um… I think you might want to double-check your information, because some of that doesn't make any sense. We don't lay eggs, so…"

"No! They're very tiny… but we do get rid of one every month if it isn't fertilized. That's what our periods are."

Lucy blinked, a little confused and surprised by that information. "But… my mom told me it was my womb shedding a lining it built up the rest of the month."

"Well yes, that too. That's where all the blood comes from."

That actually made sense now. Her mom had been the one to tell her about periods and explained wombs to her… but she hadn't gone into much detail for some reason. Lucy was beginning to suspect that her father had forbidden anyone from telling her about 'sex,' and apparently even her mother had obeyed him. As for Lucy, once she'd been reassured that she wasn't dying, she had just found the whole thing mildly gross and ignorable – like using the restroom for any other reason – and she hadn't thought any more about it.

But now that she _was_ thinking about it, she suddenly remembered how her mother had explained that the blood came from another place, separate from where she did her other business… and she abruptly worried if that was the hole Michelle had mentioned. Getting stabbed between her legs was an even more disturbing concept than getting stabbed in the bellybutton, and she cringed at the thought. She had always thought of that place as dirty and not to be touched aside from washing, so to have anyone else mess with it was extremely embarrassing and horrifying… like having someone pick her nose for her. Then on top of the grossness, was the whole stabbing part, which was bad no matter how she looked at it.

Honestly, she couldn't even begin to picture guy's 'thing' and what it could possibly look like or how it would get hard. Maybe it was like a hose that popped out from… somewhere… and was really long and skinny… like a straw or a needle. Maybe it would be like getting a shot. That didn't make her feel any better though, and the whole thing was just incredibly unpleasant to consider… especially with someone she despised.

With a shudder, she wrapped the silky robe Michelle offered tight around her body, glancing down to see that it didn't hide her figure at all, even if it was the only piece of material on her that wasn't sheer. Why was she wearing such revealing things if Eisenwald was supposed to show up at any moment? She couldn't stand the thought of him seeing her like this… it was beyond mortifying.

But she had a more pressing question.

"Why would Eisenwald want to do that?! It sounds so unpleasant!"

"It's… not unpleasant. It feels good… well, for him anyways. But you're virgin, so… it's probably going to hurt."

Honestly, she couldn't really imagine any of what they'd talked about feeling pleasant for either of them… but if _he_ liked it, that wasn't good for her because he would keep wanting to do it.

However, even that didn't trump her main concern. If he was going to start trying to get her pregnant from night one, then she would have to escape a lot faster than she'd thought. She _refused _to carry that man's child. Just the thought made terror settle hot and painful in her chest, making her ears ring and shooting numbness to her fingertips.

She wanted to ask Michelle if there was a way to prevent herself from getting pregnant – she'd heard people talk about birth control before, and now she desperately wanted to know what it was, where she could get it, and how to use it. But before she could say anything, the sound of her chamber door opening shot through the room like a bomb had gone off. Both women went silent, and Lucy knew her eyes were wide and scared as she looked into Michelle's worried and sympathetic gaze.

"Is there anything I can do to stop it?!" she urgently whispered, grabbing hold of Michelle's hands in a white-knuckled grip.

"Try telling him you're on your period… that might gross him out. Or say you're feeling sick to your stomach and you might throw up… or actually throw up on him if you can," she replied in an equally hushed and hurried voice.

They flinched at the same time as Eisenwald called from the living room, "Oh, Lucy dear… where are you hiding? Feeling shy? Come out, I won't bite. Probably."

"You should probably go… don't make him mad," Michelle advised, and for the first time Lucy was starting to understand what she'd meant earlier this morning.

She wasn't sure how being angry would make him want to have sex more than he already did… unless it was something he could do to hurt her. If it was so awful that she would do anything to avoid it, maybe it was also the thing that had made him so confident he could control her. It certainly sounded extremely unpleasant… and painful and humiliating on top of that.

Though she didn't want to go out there and greet him – especially after learning everything she just had – she figured Michelle was right and she might have a better chance of stalling him if he was in a good mood. So, she pulled her robe tighter around herself and reluctantly walked out into her bedroom, right as Eisenwald came in from the living room – which seemed really rude on his part. As far as she was concerned, you didn't just walk into someone else's bedroom without permission.

Michelle came with her, but Eisenwald quickly waved a hand at her and said, "You're dismissed."

Lucy's stomach clenched up with dread as she watched Michelle shuffle out of the room, leaving her alone with the man that apparently wanted to stab and impregnate her. Shivers ran across her skin and left goosebumps behind as she looked back at her new 'husband' and saw the way his eyes were raking her from head to toe. There was a certain heat she was unfamiliar with in his gaze, and it made her incredibly squeamish. He was looking at her like other suitors had during all those stupid balls – like a piece of meat – but his was even worse. His eyes had an intent and possessiveness in them that made her feel gross all over.

And knowing what he wanted to do to her made it even more horrifying.

* * *

**WARNING**

**TRIGGERS AHEAD!**

**Obviously you all know what's about to happen, so if you don't want to read the rape scene, you should skip the rest of this chapter. It does get fairly explicit, so be forewarned.**

* * *

For a moment he just stared at her, and she grew even more self-conscious and crossed her arms across her chest, clenching the robe tightly with her fists. Her feet took an involuntary step back as she cringed under his gaze, and she desperately tried to make her mind unfreeze from the state of panic it had sunken into.

A contemplative look changed his expression, and he took a step forwards… almost like he was testing her. When she shuffled back again in response, a slow grin worked across his mouth.

"You look nervous… does that mean you know what I want now?"

"Huh… um… Michelle did tell me some things about… how you probably want to make me pregnant… and a little of how that happens… but…" Her mind scrambled around for a second before latching onto the advice Michelle had given her. "I… I'm on my period! So, we should probably wait a few days…"

He pursed his lips and seemed to think about that for a moment. "Hm. Normally that might put me off… but I suspect you're bluffing."

She gasped and backed up another step when he started to advance again. "I'm not! I'm bleeding all over the place right now…. it's very disgusting. And it's making me very queasy and gassy… so we should really wait."

He shrugged. "Even if you're telling the truth, you'll be bleeding by the time I'm done with you anyways, so it doesn't really matter."

That comment scared her much more than she'd like to admit, and she felt her body quake like a tuning fork that had been hit. Michelle hadn't told her she would bleed… but it went right along with the whole stabbing concept and confirmed that this process was probably going to be very, _very_ unfun.

He was still advancing on her when her back suddenly hit the wall, and another wave of panic made her want to run away. Her fight or flight instincts kicked in hard, and her eyes darted around the room for an escape route, eventually landing on the dressing room. Maybe she could barricade the door…

Lucy turned and tried to make a mad dash for it, but he must have seen it coming and intercepted her, appearing in her path and making her skid to a halt. Even though she hadn't exerted herself that much, she was already panting and her heart was pounding.

Since he was now in front of the door to her dressing room, the exit into her living room was unguarded. After hesitating for just a second, she altered her course and ran in that direction instead. Right as she reached it though, a vicious wind tore across her path and knocked her back. She landed awkwardly on the floor with her nightgown and robe tossed up to her stomach, and she quickly scrambled to jerk it all back down over her legs.

Her hurt shoulder protested the rough treatment, but she ignored it in favor of stumbling to her feet and backing away from Eisenwald again – who was still coming at her.

"L-let's talk about this… wait… why are you taking your clothes off?! Stop that!"

He had already stripped off his coat and gloves, throwing them across the room, and was now working on his fancy shirt while he kept stalking towards her.

"It's a fair question… I debated whether I should keep them on until I knew if you would scratch or not, but in the end I decided that I wanted to feel you against me."

She threw up in her mouth a little, trying not to imagine her skin touching his.

"Well I don't want to see that much of you! Put them back on!" she protested as he tossed his shirt aside too, exposing a lean physique.

He had fairly broad shoulders, a flat stomach, and his arms and chest were more muscular than she'd expected. His hips were narrow, with bones that jutted above his pants – probably because he was on the thinner side of things. Overall, she guessed he was attractive enough, but she just found him ugly and difficult to look at because she disliked him so intensely. She didn't want to see that much of his pasty skin.

Thankfully he didn't remove anything else, just undoing the top button of his pants. Reluctantly, she looked at his stomach, wondering where his 'thing' would come out from, and her eyes lingered suspiciously on his belly button. It did look odd, sitting like a knot on his stomach instead of being a hole like hers.

Her pondering cut off though when he headed for her again.

"Now, it's time to get started."

"No thanks! I think I'll pass!" she squeaked, backing up hastily and finding herself near the bed and window.

When she inched towards the glass – seriously considering drastic measures by this point – a sharp wind shook the panes and she halted, knowing it would be useless. That just left two choices… either try to duck around him or dash across the bed.

There wasn't any time to weigh her options, so she just went with one and launched herself onto the bed, hitting and rolling with the momentum and then scrambling for the far edge. Before she reached it though, a hefty gust punched her in the face, and her eyes slammed shut against the painful needle-like feeling.

Unfortunately, that let him catch up to her, and she felt his hand close over her ankle. She screamed and lashed out with her other foot blindly as he dragged her towards him, but it hit wind instead of flesh. He just latched onto that ankle as well and kept dragging her back across the bed – which also had the side effect of hiking up her nightgown. As soon as she realized that, she grabbed for the silky material and struggled to keep it down as he flipped her around and tossed her up the bed. She ended up in a completely haphazard and whopperjawed position, nearly laying diagonally on the mattress and still grappling with her clothes to keep them covering her.

"What are you doing?!" she squawked as he joined her on the bed and knelt below her feet, which she pulled up closer to her.

"I'd think that was obvious…" he responded, his eyes traveling over her again, and she pushed even harder at the material against her skin.

When he loomed over her, she cringed back, digging her heels into the mattress and trying to scoot away from him as fast as possible. He grabbed fistfuls of her nightclothes though, which stopped her from sliding away, and she held onto the thin silk even tighter. They ended up doing tug of war with it, as he apparently tried to rip it off her and she yanked back to keep it on.

She whipped one hand up and her nails connected, leaving red bloody lines across his shoulder and arm as she clawed at him.

"Stop! Leave me alone!" she cried, thrashing.

He recoiled a bit and glanced down at his hurt arm with disapproval. When he looked back up, he seemed both amused and exasperated.

"I'd wanted to avoid this, but it looks like you aren't going to cooperate."

His hands clenched even tighter in her clothes, and then wind burst from them, cutting outwards in harsh lines. It felt like a million dull knives slashing at her all at once… or a whip with hundreds of tails. The loud sound of fabric ripping almost competed with her surprised and pained cry, and she balled up to shield her face and front as much as she could. He let her and just continued doing whatever he was doing to her side.

And then it all stopped and she stayed frozen in place for a long second. Once she got up the courage to look, she hesitantly opened her eyes and peeked down at her side to see what had happened. Her eyes flew wide at what she saw, and she stared in stunned silence at the shreds of her robe and nightgown fluttering through the air. Then, when she glanced down, she saw that at least half of her clothing was utterly gone, leaving bits and pieces wherever his wind hadn't touched. Her exposed skin was raw and pink with a crosshatching of welts, and a few of the deeper lines even started to bleed.

While she was gaping at the damage, it unfortunately left her open to another attack, and he took advantage of that by yanked her around while she was still trying to pull herself together. Before she knew what was happening, he had ripped the rest of her clothing off – which wasn't difficult since the cloth wasn't actually connected to anything anymore – and she was left totally naked. It all happened so quickly that it left her breathless and unable to fully process it.

However, as soon as she _did_ realize that she was completely exposed, she yelped and immediately wrapped her arms around her chest, while her legs clamped shut and curled around to the side in a mermaid pose with her heels tucked tight to her behind. Somehow, she hadn't realized that he would want her naked for this – up until he yanked her clothes off – so it was a _very _unwelcome surprise that left her reeling. It was bad enough for him to do strange semi-unknown things to her with her clothes on, but being naked in front of him was nearly unbearable. Her body flushed with humiliation and an extremely uncomfortable feeling of vulnerability.

Since her voice wasn't working at the moment, she just glared at him with a mixture of horror, fear, anger, and confusion.

"Oh, don't look at me like that… if you'd cooperated I wouldn't have had to strip you by force," he scolded.

That was a ridiculous thing to say; nobody had forced him to do anything to her at all. He could have just stopped. It was infuriating, and she wanted to punch him right in his stupid arrogant face… but unfortunately she was frozen in place trying to keep herself covered.

That probably wasn't the wisest choice on her part though. It might've been a better idea to try and run away again, whether she was naked or not, but something about the situation had stunned her into immobility. That, in and of itself, was also maddening and she squeezed her eyes closed, willing herself to move – or better yet, for everything to just be a bad dream.

Once again, he took advantage of her weakness, and soon she felt hands grabbing and pulling on her. She gasped and her eyes shot open as the rest of her body immediately reacted to the attack by thrashing around and trying to fight him off. Nothing she did had any effect though, because Eisenwald was significantly stronger than her and also used his wind to attack and block her. Before long, he'd wrestled her under him and had her arms pinned above her head in a tight wind funnel.

As soon as she was immobilized, his hands set about exploring the curves of her hips and waist in a way that made her feel like he was admiring the shape of her body – which was revolting. She'd never felt like more of an object. It made her flinch so violently that she almost vomited just from the intense clenching of her stomach.

She wanted to close her eyes and pretend that this wasn't happening, but she knew that wouldn't work. There wasn't any way she would be able to ignore the feel of his hands on her and closing her eyes would probably just make her feel it even more. So instead, she focused her eyes straight up at the canopy and glared daggers at it, trying to distract herself from what was going on. Luckily, the material above her was patterned with swirly designs, which gave her something to trace and analyze.

When his hands landed on her chest, she clenched her teeth, not exactly surprised but also very unhappy about it. She was starting to connect the dots between a few things she'd heard in bars and this whole 'sex' business…. Apparently, there was a lot more touching involved between couples than she had ever thought possible, and it wasn't tied to emotions the way she'd thought it was. She still didn't understand the appeal of touching someone you didn't love, but one quick glance at Eisenwald's face told her that he was definitely enjoying what he was doing for whatever reason.

Those thoughts all skittered through her mind very briefly and between a lot of internal cringing, and soon she found it difficult to think about anything outside of the uncomfortable situation going on with her chest area. As far as she was concerned, her breasts were a very intimate and personal place – especially since they were so sensitive – and she did **not** like him touching them. His rough fondling left her feeling stripped of more than just her clothes, and she desperately held onto whatever dignity she could under the onslaught.

'_It's just my body… he can't touch my heart or my soul… he can't truly affect me if I don't let him…_' she thought desperately, trying to convince herself that there was a wall between what was happening and her inner self. If she could just separate her mind from her body and disassociate from what was going on, maybe it wouldn't be so awful. Staying still and unresponsive also helped, and she hoped that he would lose interest if she just played dead.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, and eventually he forced a small wince out of her by squeezing extra hard.

He chuckled and said, "Oh good, you're still conscious. I was a little concerned."

She really wanted to glare at him, but she kept her eyes looking straight up instead. He wanted her to react, and she didn't want to give him the pleasure of seeing how her eyes were watering a little from the pain.

For some reason, he sat back and released her hands from their prison of wind. As soon as it dispersed, she snapped her arms over her chest, covering herself to the best of her ability.

He tsked at her, saying, "We're going to have to break you of that bad habit… but I have other things to do right now."

She could only imagine that 'other things' were probably worse than what he had already been doing, since that seemed to be the theme of the evening. Dread built into an even tighter and darker pit in her stomach, making it cramp up like she'd eaten something really rotten. Her frantic thoughts darted around, wondering if he was going to 'stab' her now and just how much that was going to hurt.

Her resolve to keep looking up broke under the pressure of needing to know what was about to happen, and she gingerly glanced down at him while keeping her head as still as possible, hoping that he wouldn't notice her peeking. He had already undone his belt and was working on the zipper of his pants, and she could see an alarming bulge behind it that definitely hadn't been there before. That answered the question of where his 'thing' was, but it looked a lot bigger than she'd expected…. there was no way a needle or straw could cause that sort of profile.

When it sprung free, she totally forgot that she was supposed to not react and immediately tried to scoot away from him in horror. That thing was unlike anything she'd ever seen before, and she wasn't even sure it looked human. She didn't want it anywhere close to her, much less touching or stabbing her.

All her thoughts on the matter flashed through her mind in just a few seconds, and then all she could think was, '_NOPE!_' which was quickly followed by, '_I'm getting out of here!_'

Her body followed suit, bucking and twisting around until she was on her stomach, and then she grabbed fistfuls of the comforter and started dragging herself away from him. Once she got her knees under her, she proceeded to scramble across the bed as fast as she possible could.

Unfortunately, her attempt at escape just made things worse for her, because he was quick to clamp his hands on her hips and stop her forward momentum. He immediately plastered his front to her back, and then in one quick motion he released her hip with one hand, grabbed the back of her neck, and smashed her face into the bed. Her yelp was muffled by the comforter, and she nearly smothered for a second until she turned her face to the side and gasped for breath.

Her fingers twisted and grappled with the blankets, trying to pull herself away from him, but he had her thoroughly pinned – and she was beginning to realize that it would be a lot harder for her to fight back with him behind her. In desperation, she tried to throw her elbow back, but she couldn't do it hard enough to hurt him in the position she was in. Trying to push up her body to buck him off didn't work either, he had too much of his weight on her.

She was truly pinned. And she couldn't even lower her hips, because his hand there kept her up.

His knees shoved hers apart and she felt that thing press against her in the place she had hoped wouldn't be touched, making her shudder with horror. While she wasn't exactly fond of those parts – since she considered them to be dirty – they _were_ extremely personal and had never been touched by another person… much less by such a revolting body part belonging to someone equally disgusting.

No matter how she squirmed though, he had her thoroughly pinned and she couldn't move an inch. There was nothing she could do as he prodded at her – pointlessly in Lucy's opinion, since she was sure he wouldn't find anywhere to put it.

But then, after a few moments, he found a spot that gave under the pressure a little.

That seemed to be what he was looking for because he kept pushing harder and harder there... eventually yanking on her hips and shoving with his. Before long, something gave way and all her senses shifted over to pain. It HURT, and Lucy bit the covers underneath her to prevent herself from crying out, determined to keep as much of her pride intact as possible. The invasive sensation was mind-numbing, and even though Michelle had told her that a woman's body was made to do this, she couldn't believe it. Nobody - woman or not - deserved to be stabbed over and over again.

She wanted to beg him to stop, but of course she would never give him a show like that. Besides, it wouldn't do her any good... there was no way he would listen.

So for the next who-knew-how-long, she kept her lips zipped tight and did her best to distract herself, focusing on anything other than what was happening to her lower half. She concentrated on her hands... on gripping the covers as tightly as she could... on her breathing... on biting her lips... and even on the discomfort of his hand pressing against the back of her neck. And finally, after what felt like ages, he suddenly stopped, his body freezing for a few seconds and then collapsing on top of her.

Luckily he didn't stay there long. After just a minute or two of breathing heavily - which made her hope that he was uncomfortable or at least tired - he sighed and finally removed himself.

She immediately dropped to her side and curled into a ball, her hand reaching down and cupping protectively over the spot that had been injured. Her thighs clamped over her wrist, and her other arm wrapped tightly around her middle, feeling like she needed to hold herself together or she might come apart at the seams.

Gritting her teeth, she shot him a glare with all the burning hatred she felt at the moment.

To her disappointment, his face was flushed with what looked like bliss instead of exhaustion or discomfort like she'd hoped. In fact, he looked so pleased that she suddenly got worried he would want to do it again right away…. but thankfully that didn't seem to be the case.

Instead, he huffed a satisfied sigh and tucked himself away before climbing off the bed and gathering his clothes. She watched warily as he redressed and smoothed his hair, soon making it look like nothing had happened. The only hint was a slight flush still on his cheeks, but even that was disappearing by the time he walked towards her door.

Before he exited though, he turned and gave her a smug look. "That was wonderful, Lucy… I can't wait until next time. Goodnight."

And – leaving her with that incredibly ominous message – he finally walked out.

Long after the click of her bedroom door echoed back to her, she remained motionless on her bed staring into space as her brain struggled to comprehend what had just happened. It was difficult to believe the crazy things he'd done to her, or that it was now over. When she finally blinked, her eyes burned from drying out.

That one small motion was enough to trigger a chain reaction inside of her, and she finally acknowledged the fact that she'd just been violated in a way she hadn't even known was possible. It felt like an explosion went off inside her head. All sorts of intense emotions smothered her under their weight: shame, fear, anguish, shock, disgust, horror, and rage.

The power of her emotions rocked her body to its core, making all her muscles spasm in uncontrollable shivers, while her chest and stomach convulsed with loud sobs. The arm that she'd clamped around her middle came up and covered her head as she tucked into an even tighter ball, pressing her forehead to her knees and wanting to disappear. It was as if there was an echoing empty space inside her now where her dignity and pride used to be, and the loss left her breathless. She felt dirty and crumpled… like a used tissue someone had thrown away.

At some point, exhaustion took over, and her tears slowed to a trickle – her last thoughts before succumbing to darkness being that she didn't want to wake back up again.

* * *

**Sneak Peek**

_He only stopped for a split second to deal with the intense affect her scent had on his body, and then he was off running again, even faster if that was possible. Her smell was like a rope tied to his nose yanking him along and he could barely keep up with his body. More than once he turned a corner too quick and slammed off the other wall, leaving it totaled behind him._

_He managed to round the last corner without banging into anything, so when he finally busted into the room he knew Lucy was in, everyone inside was caught by surprise. It was obvious that they hadn't heard him coming – which was kinda hard to believe – but there was no way he could've caught them in that position if they'd had a warning._

_They stared at him for a second with big eyes, and he looked back at them too… feeling shocked as hell. It took him way longer than it should've to really understand what the fuck was going on._

* * *

Ouch... okay guys, deep breaths. We made it through the really rough part. Everything from here on will start getting better... and as you can see from the preview, Natsu will finally be making an appearance next chapter. Yay!

Also, speaking of next chapter, I just wanted to let you all know it's the grand finale. Meaning, it's the end of part one. However, I will be getting the first chapter of part two out fairly quickly, so don't worry. ;D I won't leave you guys hanging.

Also, something to look forward to... part two will have SOME angst of course (especially dealing with what just happened) but there's also a lot of fluff and healing and happy stuff and NaLu to make up for all the bad stuff in these last few chapters.


	16. CH 16: Burn It Down and Fly Away

**Author's Note:**

Well, this is the end folks. The last chapter of part one. The Grand Finale... I hope it lives up to everyone's expectations.

As always, HUGE thanks to all my AMAZING reviewers out there. Big hugs and kisses to: MajorPain67, , valerioux, sakshishetty3003, AshleighLeeann17, stranger1999, Starstruck-MJ, CathJorda, Bugseey, Catleana, NarukoSon, Ninja-Turtle Charlie, Abdltf, MudSkipper001, Cino2K, ABT4Life, Jedi Jelsa777, Akane Saito, and SistershoOk. You guys are all awesome!

Also, extra special birthday wishes to Ninja-Turtle Charlie. ;D

**FAIR WARNING: things are going to get a little hairy, and there are a few small parts that could be triggering, but nothing SERIOUSLY bad happens. So, I haven't put in any further warnings. **

**Also, stay tuned till the end for an important announcement on Part Two!**

Alrighty! Let's get on with the show, shall we?

* * *

The next morning, Lucy woke slowly and with a grogginess that she normally didn't experience. It felt like she was swimming through tar.

There was a dull pain throughout her body that confused her as she surfaced, and eventually she determined that part of the problem was her uncomfortable position. So, she shifted and stretched her limbs out, hoping to relieve some of the aching in her shoulders and hips. However, as soon as she moved, a pang came to life in her pelvis with all the subtlety of a punch to the stomach.

That sensation immediately brought her to full awareness as everything that happened last night slammed back home in her skull.

Her body reacted violently to the memory, and soon she was tumbling out of bed with the intention of rushing to the toilet… but she didn't make it that far. Only a few feet from the bed, she went to her hands and knees and threw up every last thing she'd eaten yesterday. Even after everything was out, her stomach kept cramping and she continued to dry heave for what felt like forever, occasionally spitting up a little more bile.

When it finally did end, she stayed on the floor for a long moment to catch her breath, and once she felt less queasy and lightheaded, she stumbled to her feet and staggered to the bathroom. However, when she was confronted with her reflection in the mirror, it just made things worse. Her mind blanked and grew numb as she stared at her appearance.

Her body was covered in battle scars from last night. The worst of the welts from Eisenwald's wind had left angry red streaks crisscrossing over her skin, and – combined with her assortment of bruises – she looked like she'd been whipped and beaten. Purple and green splotches marked her body all over, but they were particularly harsh on her neck, chest, hips, and arms.

What disturbed her the most though were smears of dried blood on her thighs, and that finally sent her dashing to the toilet again where she proceeded to dry heave for another five minutes at least.

When she finally reigned her stomach back under control, she kept her eyes away from the mirror and made a beeline straight for the shower, grabbing the strongest looking antibacterial soap off the rack for her purposes. The idea of a bath wasn't even remotely appealing at the moment… she felt like she was covered in filth and it would infect her bathwater. She wanted running water to flush all of it straight down the drain.

She didn't even wait for the water to heat up, she was too desperate to get clean for that. Instead, she dealt with the freezing cold water, only yelping a little because most of her attention was on the soap. Belatedly, she realized that she'd forgotten a loofa or washcloth, but she couldn't stand the thought of waiting to get one, so she just poured the soap into her hands.

She immediately went for the center of all her horror, disgust, and shame. The sensations from both her hand and her privates triggered all sorts of unpleasant emotions and memories from last night, but she gritted her teeth and bore with it. A few pained hisses and grunts slipped out as she ruthlessly scrubbed her torn skin, trying to ignore how badly the soap burned, and she glared up at the ceiling as her eyes watered.

It was kind of cathartic in a strange way though… like the soap was burning away all traces of what had happened. She was almost angry at that part of her body, as if it had betrayed her, and she wanted to scour it clean and reclaim it as hers. If she could have stood it, she might have even tried putting soap up inside that strange place, but even the slightest threat of doing that had her nearly doubled over with agony.

Eventually, she gave that spot a break and started soaping up the rest of her body from her neck down to her toes… at some point switching from fingertips to her nails when she felt like she wasn't scrubbing hard enough. It was like she couldn't get his touch off her… and after three full washes, she slowly began to realize that she might never feel completely clean again.

That thought was almost too much for her, and she slumped to her knees, not even feeling the water anymore. Once she started crying, she couldn't stop, and she ended up stuck on the floor of the shower sobbing into her hands. Soon her chest was aching, her eyes burned, her throat felt raw, and her nose was so full that it gave her a raging headache. Everything about the experience was painful, and she wished she could turn it all off.

Eventually, she regained enough sense to turn off the water and stumble out of the shower, but she quickly discovered that her legs had fallen asleep and nearly fell over. Pins and needles attacked her with every slight move, but she managed to make it to the line-up of robes before collapsing. She couldn't stand the sight of her body covered in bruises, welts, and now scratches from her own nails. Yanking the thickest robe down, she wrapped it around herself and then sat leaning back against the wall, waiting for her legs to feel like legs again.

That was where Michelle found her.

Even after regaining the ability to move, she hadn't felt like it and chose to remain on the floor instead, feeling utterly lost. She'd stayed there just spacing out for probably an hour, until the sound of a sharp gasp caught her attention.

"Your Highness! Are you okay?!" Michelle yelped and rushed over, falling to her knees beside Lucy.

It was eerily reminiscent of yesterday morning, and she wondered if this was going to become a repeat occurrence. She certainly hoped not… that would mean that she was having an emotional breakdown every day, and she didn't know how long she could stand a life like that.

"Obviously not…" she responded dryly to Michelle's question, finding it almost funny in a dark kind of way. However, she regretted the slightly harsh response when Michelle flinched and teared up.

"I'm sorry, my lady, of course you aren't. Can you stand?"

"Yes…" she sighed, gingerly getting to her feet and feeling various muscles protest the action as well as her private parts. It was an unpleasant reminder, but she did her best to keep her mind from going down that road. At the very least, this last hour or so of sitting and doing nothing had emotionally numbed her a little, which was a step up from falling apart as far as she was concerned.

That numbness stuck around while Michelle assisted her into the baggiest pair of soft pants and shirt she could find, and it helped her to ignoring Michelle's subtle gasp when the maid saw her beaten up skin. But as soon as they reentered her bedroom, the numbness melted away and she balked, immediately backing up and spinning around so she wouldn't have to look at it. Michelle had already stripped the bed of its covers and must have gathered up the fragments of her nightgown, because Lucy hadn't seen any remnants of last night, but just the room itself brought back memories.

"Oh no! Oh… um… let's go this way, alright, Your Highness?" Michelle stammered, ushering Lucy back into her dressing room and through the bathrooms to the living room.

Once there, the other blond helped her onto the couch and retrieved a large blanket from somewhere to wrap around Lucy's shoulders. She huddled into the nest, clenching her eyes closed and trying to regain that numbness she'd acquired before.

Her mental exercise was interrupted by Michele though, who said, "Uh… I'll go get your breakfast from the kitchens… and I'll let everyone know you're feeling ill and wish to be alone."

Lucy nodded, thinking that was a very good idea – even if she wasn't particularly hungry.

While Michelle was off on that errand, Lucy returned to her meditation, eventually managing to get her emotions and thoughts mostly under control again. Once the threat of bad memories resurfacing faded just a little, she focused on her plans for the future to help distract herself.

One of her largest concerns, and something she really couldn't ignore even if she wanted to, was the very real threat of getting pregnant. For all she knew, she might already be pregnant…. she wasn't sure how fast that sort of thing happened, and it was definitely something she would need to ask Michelle about. Maybe there was something she could do to prevent it from happening, and if so, she needed to know about that right away. Just the thought of getting pregnant from that monster threatened to throw her headlong back into an emotional meltdown.

When her heartrate spiked, she took some deep breaths and tried to think about something else for the moment. She had to stay strong and focus on escaping as fast as she could, because she knew that if she had to go through anymore nights like last night, she might even lose her will to fight, and that was something she couldn't risk. She'd rather die than live like that for the rest of her life.

Thankfully, before Lucy could get too lost in dark thoughts, Michelle was bustling back into her chambers, wheeling a food cart in front of her. She shut the door behind her and wheeled the food closer to Lucy.

"I wasn't sure what you might be in the mood for, so I tried to bring a broad selection," the maid offered, laying some of it out on the coffee table in front of the couch.

"Thank you, Michelle…" she murmured, reaching for a plate with scrambled eggs on it and plain buttered toast.

That seemed bland enough to not upset her stomach too much, and she gingerly nibbled at it, finding it tastier than she'd expected. The smell and taste of food made her stomach come back to life, and she realized that she was actually starving, even if her appetite was still missing. Ironically, the hunger pains only ended up making her feel queasier, and she had to slow down her eating even more to accommodate it.

Michelle awkwardly stood nearby, looking unsure and worried. Eventually Lucy sighed and said, "Why don't you come sit next to me? I could use the company."

The other woman jumped a little, and then hesitantly joined her on the couch. "Are you sure this is okay, Your Highness?"

"I appreciate it actually. I don't really want to be left alone with my thoughts right now."

"Oh… yes. I suppose that makes sense…"

There was a long moment of silence between them as Lucy continued to slowly consume her food, taking it very carefully so that she wouldn't make herself sick.

And then Michelle cleared her throat and timidly asked, "Is there…. Um…. Would you like to talk about… what happened?"

Lucy almost swallowed wrong, feeling a mild zap of anxiety and batting it back down to the best of her ability. She definitely wasn't ready to talk about what'd happened… she doubted she would ever be able to talk about it. However, that did remind her that she needed to ask Michelle about the pregnancy thing.

Putting aside her plate for a moment, she turned to face Michelle, who looked like she was afraid she'd just really messed up. Lucy was quick to give her a small smile so she would stop worrying.

Clearing her throat, she tried to get through what needed to be said without stuttering too much. "No, I… I really can't talk about that. But I'm glad you said something, because it reminded me that I need to ask you something. Is there any way to prevent myself from getting pregnant? Because that's the last thing I want right now."

Michelle perked up a little, and eagerly offered, "Yes! There is a potion you can drink the day after to make sure that you won't get pregnant. And there are potions and tinctures that you can drink every day or before having sex to prevent pregnancy."

Relief swamped Lucy's senses and she quickly asked, "And if I took one of those potions today, it would make sure that I can't get pregnant from… what happened last night?!"

"Um… yes… but…"

Lucy could tell Michelle was getting worried again, probably because she knew what Lucy was about to ask… and if the maid got caught doing it, she would probably get into a lot of trouble. Lucy felt bad about it, but she was desperate and had no other options at the moment.

"Please! Can you get me some of those potions?! I know it's a lot to ask…. But I have no one else I can turn to."

Michelle bit her lip, looking torn for a moment, but then her eyes grew determined and she firmly nodded. "Yes! I can get you some!"

"Thank you so much! There's nothing I can do or say to tell you how much this means to me."

Michelle nodded again, and then said seriously, "I'd better go do that now… it's better to take the potion as soon as possible the day after."

"Okay, thank you again…"

"I'm just glad there was something I could do to help… but are you sure you'll be alright here by yourself? You just said you didn't want to be alone…"

"I can manage for a while," Lucy replied, incredibly touched by how considerate and caring her new friend was.

"Alright, then I'll be back as soon as I can."

And with that, Michelle hustled out the door, leaving Lucy alone with her thoughts again.

…

An hour or so later, Michelle returned to Lucy's chambers with the items she had requested, and Lucy immediately gulped down the foul-tasting potion the maid handed to her.

A wave of relief helped settle her nerves a lot, but she still felt anxious enough that she needed Michelle to stay and keep her company for the rest of the day. That was partly because she was terrified Eisenwald might show up again at any moment and do more of those horrible things to her… not that Michelle could do anything to help her if he did, but it still made her feel better to have her there.

Thankfully, he _didn't_ pay them a visit. However, when dinnertime rolled around, a knock sounded on her door.

Michelle leaped to answer it for Lucy. "Yes, what is it?"

"His Majesty has requested Her Majesty's presence for dinner," said a male servant's voice from the door, and Lucy breathed out a sigh of relief that it wasn't Eisenwald himself.

Michelle glanced back at her, and Lucy urgently shook her head 'no' – absolutely sure that she couldn't handle seeing that man so soon after what he'd done to her last night.

Her new friend turned back to the servant at the door and said, "My lady is actually quite ill right now. She couldn't possibly come to dinner. Please give His Highness her deepest regrets."

There was a muffled assent, and then Michelle shut the door and turned back to Lucy, looking worried.

"I don't think that will work though… he's probably still going to insist that you come to dinner."

"I can't! I can't stand the thought of seeing him right now!" Lucy gasped, feeling her breathing grow more and more shallow by the second as she contemplated it.

The other woman hurried over and quickly started rubbing her arms and patting her back, trying to help her snap out of it.

"Deep breaths! That's it… nice and easy," she urged, and Lucy tried to do as she suggested, forcing herself to focus on just her breathing and nothing else.

It took a good few minutes to calm back down, and even then, Lucy felt dangerously unbalanced. The threat of having to see him again was making her degenerate at an alarmingly quick rate. It was so bad that when another knock sounded on her door, she flinched hard enough that she nearly fell off the couch.

Sharing a frightened look with each other, Michelle hurried over to answer the door. Thankfully it was just the servant again and not Eisenwald himself coming to get her.

"His Majesty insists that the queen comes to dinner, whether she feels well or not," the male servant relayed, sounding ever so slightly uncomfortable.

Once again, Michelle looked at Lucy for her answer, and though she knew it was probably a very bad idea, she shook her head.

Michelle bit her lip and said, "One moment please," to the servant before closing the door and coming over to Lucy.

"If you turn him down again he might get angry, and… well… he might come to your chambers."

That threat was enough to make Lucy think twice about her decision, and she realized that if she wanted to survive here long enough to escape, she should probably try her best to not make Eisenwald mad. A wave of helplessness washed over her, stripping away a little more of her pride as she realized that she would do just about anything to avoid a repeat of last night.

Gritting her teeth and taking a few more deep breaths, she tightly nodded, and Michelle hurried back over to the door to tell the servant that she would be right down. Meanwhile, Lucy felt like she was slowly sinking into a puddle of quicksand that was trying to eat her whole.

"We should get you dressed more nicely…" Michelle commented, and Lucy nodded again, feeling a little mindless.

With Michelle's help, she was quickly shoved into a dress that was as demure as possible – with long sleeves, a high neckline, and a skirt that went to below her knees. And then Michelle fixed her hair and makeup while Lucy pep-talked herself into being slightly more composed.

'_I can just avoid looking at him… and I doubt I'll have to talk to him or touch him. All I have to do is show up and look pretty, just like he said two days ago, and that'll make him happy. I just have to play along until I can escape, and then I never have to see his face ever again. This won't last for long… I can do this… I can be strong… It's going to be just fine.'_

Within just a few minutes, Michelle was escorting her to the dining hall, and Lucy wildly searched for something to hold onto to bolster her willpower. She refused to cry in front of Eisenwald or show him how badly he had shaken her… so she had to stay strong.

After some deep hunting, she finally landed on a tiny warm calm spot in her heart. Memories of her mother flooded her, and following those were memories of Brandy, Aquarius, Yajima, and everyone else she loved back home. Thinking of them gave her courage and soothed her shattered nerves.

Finally, her mind settled on a certain chestnut-haired person that she had desperately been trying not to think about. Fresh grief stung her for a second, but underneath that was another wave of warm memories that fortified her.

She clutched all those feelings of warmth and safety close to her heart as she walked into the dining room with her head held high.

Her first glimpse of Eisenwald nearly sent her crashing back down into that dark hole of sadness and fear, but somehow she managed to stay afloat as she pulled even harder on her happy memories. She pictured all of her loved ones holding her up, and the image strengthened her.

"You're quite late tonight, Lucy," Eisenwald commented, and she shuddered at the sound of his voice.

A brief touch on her back from Michelle's hand helped settle her again, and she found the power to actually respond, though she'd thought she wouldn't be able to.

"I'm sorry for making you wait. I haven't felt well all day."

"So I heard… though I'm sure that's just an excuse not to see me. Unless you're in bed with a high fever, or some other serious illness, I expect you to come when I summon you."

"Duly noted," she muttered quietly as she sat across from him.

"Good. And I'm happy to see that you followed my instructions on how to dress for dinner."

With an inclination of her head, she acknowledged his praise, despite feeling disgusted about it.

The rest of the meal was mostly silent as Lucy focused on eating slowly to avoid upsetting her stomach and ignored Eisenwald's presence to the best of her ability. Concentrating on memories of her loved ones continued to help distract her as well, but by the end of dinner her nerves were wearing thin and all she wanted to do was run back to her room and hide.

As soon as the final course was taken away, she asked, "May I be excused?"

"Yes, you can go back to your rooms now. I'll join you in a little while."

At that, Lucy felt her blood run cold, and she nearly lost all the strength she had regained.

Fully reverting to court-speech, she said, "I would beg that you not, seeing as I truly am feeling unwell."

"That's nonnegotiable, and it really isn't proper dinner conversation. We can discuss it later, in private," he replied smugly, giving her a smirk that said he was enjoying himself.

She really wanted to put up more of a fight, but her legs felt like jelly and she was scared that she wouldn't even be able to walk out of the room if she stayed any longer. Plus, all she could think about was running away…

So, with a hurried comment of, "Very well…" she stood from the table and made a hasty retreat.

Michelle hurried after her.

It was only after she'd speed-walked through several long halls that Lucy slowed down. In fact, she nearly collapsed and leaned heavily against the wall for support.

"What am I going to do, Michelle…?" she groaned, feeling hopeless and helpless again and desperately trying to keep herself from fully sinking back into the depression and anxiety of this morning.

"I… I don't know, my lady… just try and stay strong…?"

The advice was said more as a question than anything, and Lucy huffed a dark laugh. "Yeah… easier said than done."

….

.

…

Meanwhile, a very seasick person was just making land on the island of Balsam.

"Urgh… fucking… hate… boats…" Natsu groaned as he crawled off the boat and onto the pier.

He'd been on the thing ever since he got outta jail this morning.

It'd sucked to wake up last night and realize he was behind bars. He would've broken outta there and got on a ship sooner, but when he raised a huge stink, one of the guards had let him know that all the ships going to Balsam had been docked already for the night. So, breaking out wouldn't have done him any good anyways, and he'd decided to just wait it out.

But now he was finally here… flat on his belly on the docks.

He was stuck there until his stomach stopped trying to crawl outta his body. Just like the train thing yesterday, lots of people tripped and stepped on him before somebody finally grabbed the back of his jacket and hauled him outta the way, cussing like a sailor the whole way. Of course, the guy probably _was_ a sailor… or a fisherman or something.

Natsu didn't really care about any of that though, he was just happy that he was finally on dry land and off a vehicle. If moving around wouldn't make him toss his lunch everywhere, he probably would've kissed the ground.

It wasn't super surprising that it took way longer than it should've for him to recover from his motion sickness, 'cause he'd been so sick yesterday and hadn't been ready to get sick again. His body was screaming, '_What the hell are you doin' riding two transports back to back ya idiot_?!' But it wasn't like he'd had a choice. He had to get to Lucy ASAP.

Just thinking about her helped him get his shit together, and he forced himself back onto his feet even though he was still real wobbly at first. Honestly, he hated feeling so weak, but there wasn't anything he could do about that.

Right now though, it sucked extra hard 'cause he was desperate to find Lucy and it was really slowing him down. He had to stagger through town like he was drunk or sick, and even stopped once to puke. Of course wasn't much in his belly to throw up, 'cause he'd lost his breakfast on the boat.

Being super hungry wasn't good either, so as soon as his stomach started to settle down, he grabbed something from a food vendor on his way to the castle and stuffed his face as he kept walking. At least he knew where he was going, 'cause whoever designed this place made it ridiculously easy to spot the castle. The thing stood out like a sore thumb at the highest point in the city, and he could see it from basically anywhere.

So getting there was easy – once he could walk in a straight line – but getting in was gonna be tougher, since the way to it was a gated and guarded switchback road up the side of a cliff. He stopped near the base and eyeballed it with his arms crossed.

Then he grinned and started getting ready to fight. In a couple seconds, he'd yanked his coat off, flipped it to the black side, unzipped the shoulders, took off the sleeves, and used the hidden belt in the collar to strap it around his hips like a skirt. He wrapped his scarf around his hips too and tucked in the ends to make it smooth. That left him in his signature one-shouldered black chainmail shirt that showed off all the ID markings on his right side. He always wore it on his major missions, so people knew he meant business when he put it on.

To finish up, he spiked his hair with his fingers and burned all the dye out. Then he slipped on his scaled gloves and cracked his knuckles… letting his grin get even bigger and nastier. There was a lot of anger he'd bottled up inside, and kicking some ass was exactly what he needed.

This was gonna be good.

…

.

…

Meanwhile, Lucy was dealing with a huge problem.

"You arrived sooner than I expected…" she noted, trying to keep her voice calm despite the raging turmoil inside her.

Once back in her chambers, she had redressed in her loose palazzo pants and baggy shirt, but she'd layered the outfit with gym pants, tights, a t-shirt, a tank top, and a sports bra for extra security. Then she had proceeded to pace and worry about what to do… up until Eisenwald arrived. As soon as he knocked on her door, she had dived for the couch and her big blanket.

He really had come a lot sooner than she thought he would, and it was extra unnerving.

"I was eager to see you… is that a problem?" he replied smoothly, but it sounded like fake butter to her.

"Not at all… except I did warn you that I was feeling ill."

"That's too bad," he cooed, still sounding totally bogus, and then he turned to Michelle and waved his hand. "Oh, and you're dismissed."

She hesitated, but when he sent her a sharp second glance she hurried out the door, and Lucy felt herself quake a little. Her only hope was to convince him that she really was sick… and maybe then he'd leave her alone.

"If you're feeling so bad why aren't you in bed?" he asked as he walked over to stand directly in front of her.

She turned her head so that she wouldn't be eye to eye with his groin, being sharply reminded of what lurked there. Her throat had closed up at his proximity and she was shaking, which hopefully could be played off as a fever.

Still, it made it difficult to talk, and her voice came out tight and hoarse despite her best efforts. "Because… I'm more comfortable here."

That was a weak excuse, but there was no way she could bring herself to admit that just looking at the bed gave her flashbacks of last night.

Eisenwald was smart though and figured it out without her having to say anything. "Are you sure it isn't because of last night?"

Her flinch made him laugh, and if he hadn't been standing RIGHT THERE she would have glared at him. As it was, she contented herself to scowl at the wall with all her might, wishing she could make it burst into flames and burn this whole place down around his ears.

"Oh come on… I know it was your first time, but it can't have been _that_ bad. Unless you just have an incredibly low pain tolerance."

"I have a very high pain tolerance actually…" she muttered, knowing that fact from being able to play the violin with a sprained wrist.

What she had a low tolerance for was being debased and having all her pride stripped away. Even now, she could feel her willpower getting weak just from being near him, and it was humiliating. She'd never felt so pathetic and helpless before in her entire life… and that was saying a lot.

Her fists clenched tightly under the blankets and she closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry. When a hand touched her hair she flinched again, unable to prevent it, but she tensed every muscle in her body to keep still and not throw his hand off her or run away. Doing that would provoke him, and she wanted him to go away, not attack her.

"Well, whatever the case, you're going to have to get used to it, because that's just part of your wifely duties. Also…" He got closer until she could feel his breath on the side of her face, and she cringed, struggling to stay still. "Whenever you choose to disobey me, I'll be using it to remind you of your place."

A chill went down her already rigid spine, and she could almost taste what he was about to say. It lay thick in the air between them, and she felt like a heavy gas had just been released, making it difficult to breathe.

For a long moment he let her stew, almost as though he knew how her dread increased with every second he stayed silent. And then he struck, his hand latching onto the back of her neck, fingers pressing harshly at the base of her skull to whip her head around and face him. Dull pain shot through the fresh bruise there, and she couldn't suppress a gasp of both surprise and pain as he used his grip to yank her up by her head and neck, bringing her nose to nose with him.

"You know what that means of course… you disobeyed my summons today…"

Her eyes met his and another tense second fell over them, his expression smug as he watched her go through a series of emotions that she couldn't keep from her face… realization, fear, denial, acceptance, refusal, pain, more fear. She swung between wanting to run, almost giving up, and the urge to fight.

She couldn't give in to the depression, so she focused on her fight or flight instincts and just hoped that she was strong enough this time to do one of them.

…

.

…

At the same time, Natsu was just getting to the first gate.

He was itching for a good fight. It'd been way too long since he used his magic, and he was pissed and more fired up than he'd ever been in his life. This whole time, he'd been dying to get to the asshole that took Lucy, and nothing was gonna stop him now that he was finally here.

The guards in front of the gate noticed him right away and immediately tensed up and told him to get lost. They must've been able to feel the nasty aura that was probably coming off him in waves.

He responded by sliding one foot back and charging it up with firepower. Before they knew what hit them, he was bulldozing through their ranks. The ones that didn't get knocked on their asses yelled as he shot past them, and the rest rushed to get in his way.

Too bad for them.

He let fire burst from his body and sent guards flying as he busted down the metal gate. Then he just ran up the rest of the driveway and knocked down a couple more gates before finally skidding to a stop in front of the castle. Piles of smoking guards were left behind him, but he was pretty sure he hadn't killed anyone. They hadn't put up enough of a fight to have gotten pummeled too bad… unless they'd been stupid enough to get sandwiched between his fist and a gate.

Kicking in the last gate at the end of the drive must've alerted the castle guards that something was up, 'cause he was met with a whole mess of them.

"Oh shit, who is this guy?!"

"He took out all the guards and got through the gates all by himself?!"

"Fuck! Look closer! Isn't that…?!"

"It's the Dragon! Damn it all! Quick, let the captains know!"

A couple guys ran off at top speed and Natsu thought about chasing them, but he got a little busy when the rest came after him. They weren't much of a challenge – each went down with one hit – but there were a lot of them. By the time he was done, the runners had completely disappeared.

"Eh… whatever. Bring it on," he grunted, shrugging. Maybe these captains would put up a little more fight, 'cause this'd been kinda disappointing so far.

Feeling pissy and unsatisfied, he marched over to the front door and kicked it open, hopping to the side when one door came off its hinges and tried to flatten him.

"Psht, talk about crappy work… they need to fix this place up. It's way too easy to break," he snorted and stomped the door under his foot on his way into the castle, snorting again when it cracked into a couple pieces.

Knights flooded the first big room, and he grinned and punched his fist into the other hand, hoping these fully suited-up guys would be a little tougher. He was itching for a fight so bad that his skin was crawling with it.

A few rushed him all at once. He dodged the first couple of sword slashes easily enough by skipping back a few steps, and then he got between one of them and their sword. He slammed a kick into that guy's side, knocking him into the others like a bowling ball, and they all fell on top of each other. The next group was already on him by then, and he quickly jumped into the air to get over their swords. While he was up there, he braced himself on one of their helmets and twisted around to kick another guy across the room. Then he landed and brought the guy in his grip down with him, slamming the guard's helmet – and head – into the ground.

The rest were just as easy to get rid of, and he tore through them like paper…. Which was kind of a disappointment. Their bigger armor hadn't made them tougher at all.

He ignored the small fry and servants – who were all running around and screaming and hiding like he was some kinda monster – and marched up the big stairs in front of him. Usually castles like these were laid out so the throne room was a straight shot from the front door.

A few more knights and guards got in his way, but none of them lasted past one or two hits, so he left them on the ground behind him as he kept going. Sure enough, the biggest halls and stairs led right to the throne room… but when he busted in the double doors, nobody was there. It was just a big echoing room with a platform and a throne at one end, and lots of nothing else.

"Hey! Where is everyone?! Where's the king?!"

"Not here, obviously," somebody said from behind him, and he spun around to see who'd come in.

It was some guy with a spiky yellow mohawk and eyebrows, sunglasses, and a red and white suit. If Natsu had to guess, he'd bet this was probably one of the 'captains' those guards were running to get.

He sent the guy a vicious grin. "So… wanna tell me where they are?"

"Maybe I will… after I've put you in the dungeon."

"Not gonna happen," Natsu spat back, not really in the mood to trash talk.

He rushed the jerk, going for a punch to the face, but his fist ended up swinging through air. And then he was kicked in the back and sent face first into the nearby wall. That stung, but he shook it off quick enough, wiping a bit of blood from his forehead. When he turned around, he was met with a fist to his gut, and he coughed, feeling his air get punched out.

"I'm Racer… a captain of this castle's military force. You should stay down…. Nobody can touch my speed," the bastard said as he stepped back.

But Natsu knew how to deal with guys like this… so he stood right back up and gave this Racer dude a cocky grin. He launched himself at his opponent, waiting for him to disappear and anticipating the attack from behind or the side. It came from the right. As soon as the kick landed on his ribs, he let his power loose in an explosion of fire outta his whole body, knocking Racer back on his ass. While he was still down, Natsu went for him and landed a fired-up punch right to his face that sent the guy and his broken sunglasses flying.

Natsu followed right behind, dragging him up off the floor and pinning him to the wall with enough force that the jerk's head clonked against it, knocking him even stupider.

"'Cept me," Natsu bragged, in response to what Racer had said a minute ago. "Now, where's the king?"

The guy was almost out cold, but he mumbled something that sounded like, "… chambers…" before passing out completely. Natsu dropped him with a disgusted grunt.

"'Chambers' huh? What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

…

.

…

Meanwhile, in said chambers, an equally fierce battle was taking place.

A few moments before, Eisenwald had tried to drag Lucy into the bedroom… and she had responded by throwing the blanket at him and kicking him in the stomach to get him off her. He had grabbed at her through the blanket, and they'd ended up tripping over each other and the cloth between them – which had given Lucy an opening to knock Eisenwald over the head with a fairly heavy book she grabbed off the table. Then he ripped the blanket to shreds with a tornado of wind that also knocked her back and ripped her clothes a bit. Thankfully, everything was mostly intact, and even better, he had lost his hold on her.

She ran into the bathroom, slamming and locking the door behind her.

Then, she dashed all the way through the bathrooms and her dressing room, suspecting that Eisenwald might go for the path of least destruction to his precious castle. Sure enough, he had come through the bedroom and was almost at her closet door, so she ended up slamming it in his face. She locked it right before the handle wiggled – which was nerve wracking.

Forcing her mind away from the terror, she turned and ripped an armful of clothing from the nearest racks and threw it in front of the door in a heavy heap. She did that a few more times as he banged on the door and ordered her to open it 'or else.'

By the time she was done with that, there was a mountain of expensive cloth blocking the door, and then she swiped her arms across the vanity for good measure, sending a mess of bottles and every other imaginable obstacle scattering over the floor between her and the king.

After destroying that room, she ducked back through the bathrooms, hearing the pounding stop. She unlocked and dashed through the door into the living room right as he came out of her bedroom. For a brief second, she judged the distance between her and the exit and Eisenwald, knowing that if she trapped herself in the bathroom there wasn't anywhere for her to go. If he got past her defenses, she would be in deep trouble.

It was at that moment that an urgent knock sounded on her outer door, and they both turned to look at it. Eisenwald shot her a predatory glance, and then walked across the living room to answer it when the pounding didn't stop.

"What?!" he snapped, sounding irritated at being interrupted.

Lucy glanced from him to the open bedroom door, wondering if she could get in there and out the window before he got to her. If she failed, then she would be trapped in her bedroom with him again, and she had already barricaded the closet door too well to get past.

It wasn't worth the risk, so she slammed her bathroom door shut and locked it again before rushing back into her other bathroom. There was a linen closet in there that provided oodles of towels she started carting back to the door into the living room to block it off, like she had with the clothes in front of the other. Then she stopped up the toilet with a washcloth and flushed, letting water flood the bathroom and soak into the towels, which made them heavier in front of the door.

The sound of voices stopped, and she knew she was running out of time, so she rushed back into the other room and grabbed handfuls of soaps and shampoos and conditioners. Then she carried them into the first bathroom and unscrewed as many as she could before dumping their contents out in front of the door and all over the floor, making it super slippery.

Before she was done, Eisenwald started pounding on her bathroom door, and loudly said, "As fun as this game is, you should open this door now or you WILL be sorry. There are so many things I can do to you that will make last night look like a tea party in comparison."

She paled, hoping that was an idle threat.

"There's no way I'm opening that door!" she shouted back. "Just give up! I'm not coming out of here!"

As she yelled, she ran back into the other bathroom for more ammunition, pocketing soap bottles and hair sprays. Then she made another pile of wet towels and linens next to the open door connecting her bathrooms. She could throw them at him, or if it looked like he might get by her first line of defenses, she intended to pile them up in front of this door.

She only had to wait a few seconds before a roar sounded behind the other door, bashing into it like a train and knocking it off its hinges. Splinters went everywhere and Lucy winced as a few hit her, but her biggest concern was that the door had landed on her soap trap.

Now he had a dry path to walk on through a good portion of the room, making her trap less troublesome for him. Panic hit her hard as she stared into his darkly amused face, and she ducked behind the next bathroom door and slammed it shut, piling the towels in front of it and pouring soap across the floor all the way to the other door, where she waited. While she was there, she kicked all the cosmetics into the bathroom and out of her way.

The next part of her plan was to barricade herself in the dressing room if she had to and switch the pile of clothes to this door. Hopefully, she could get through the bedroom and living room before he figured out what she was doing… but if he did catch on, maybe the soap and bottles would slow him down enough that she could escape before he got back through the bathrooms.

A few seconds later, the other bathroom door blew inwards, skidding across the slippery floor. He stopped in the open doorway and leaned against the doorframe, looking like a pleased cat with a trapped mouse.

"What should I do to you when I catch you…? You've made things so much worse for yourself, you know. I was only going to repeat last night, but now you're just begging for a harsher punishment."

Somehow he'd trapped her with his words… or maybe it was the dark intent in his eyes that had pinned her in place. Even worse, he knew _exactly_ the kind of affect he had on her, and his eyes grew even crueler and more amused as she stared into them.

"Maybe I'll shove this down your throat and choke you with it…" he grabbed his crotch to explain what he meant by 'this,' and she gagged convulsively at the thought he'd put in her head, unable to even fathom it. She couldn't believe anyone would even _think_ of doing that.

He laughed at her response, getting too much pleasure from her agonized thoughts.

Horror froze her in place for a long moment, but as soon as he started to move, she regained her mobility and was even more desperate to keep away from him.

"You're disgusting!" she shouted, backing away and getting ready to slam the door shut.

He laughed and slashed up a hand, spattering soap at her and clearing a path for himself with his magic. She managed to slam the door shut in time, and the soap splattered on the back of it with a slick sound, telling her that the second trap had been easily thrown aside. She gasped and rushed to the other door, immediately grabbing armfuls of clothing and throwing them in front of the bathroom door. She kicked aside the last of it right as Eisenwald tried to smash in that door, but even though it was knocked off its hinges, the pile of clothes was taller than Lucy and kept it in place.

She knew the barricade wouldn't last through one or two more of those air blasts, so she urgently yanked open the door to her bedroom and shot through, skidding through her bedroom and out into her living room. She headed straight for the exit at full speed, knowing that if she could just escape into the castle, she had a chance.

Her husband must have realized what she was trying to do though, because he came barreling out of the bathroom door right as she reached the exit. She screamed as wind slapped her away from the door, knocking her to the floor.

Eisenwald immediately started stalking towards her, and she scooted backwards on her rear for a few feet before rolling and scrambling to her feet. He'd caught up to her by then though, and he snagged a fistful of her loose shirt, yanking her back towards him.

Somehow, she managed to thrash her way out of it, leaving him with that and nothing else as she slipped away. He cocked an eyebrow at the material in his fist and the t-shirt she was now wearing.

"I'm going to assume that isn't your last layer either," he hummed, looking impressed, entertained, and mildly annoyed. "You're even more clever than I'd hoped."

She didn't respond to the backhanded compliment. Instead, she focused on backing up towards the bookcase behind her without tripping. He advanced, but she reached the bookcase first and started grabbing for weapons. She whipped the books at him with as much force as she could, snapping her wrist in such a way that they spun through the air like a frisbee and kept their pages together.

She would never admit to throwing books before, but she knew from experience that doing it the wrong way would make them pop open and slow down significantly. The first two caught him by surprise and he blocked them with his arms, but the next two were knocked aside with a slash of wind, sending pages flying through the air. She kept on throwing books though, because it slowed him down, and at the same time she inched back along the wall. It was lucky that she'd been placed in a room with wall-to-wall bookshelves.

If she could just get enough space between them to dash past him, she could make another run at the door.

However, that hope quickly became obviously impossible… and eventually she just went for it, knowing that he would reach her either way.

Predictably, he sent out a blast of air, and she skidded sideways and slammed into the wall. He pinned her there with wind until he reached her, and then the magic holding her in place dropped. Before she could get away, his hand was slicing over her shirts, using his magic to rip the material apart. Her t-shirt was completely destroyed, but shreds of the tank top still clung to her and her sports bra survived completely.

When he grabbed onto the waistband of her pants with one hand, she dove headfirst through the gap under his other arm and somehow managed to land in a tumble. That left him holding her loose outer layer once again… but she hardly felt secure, since she basically only had one more layer up top and two beneath – three if she counted her panties.

It was worth the sacrifice though, because she was at the door finally and wrenched it open… or so she thought.

Once again, he shot her away from it with a gust of wind, tearing another yell from her throat. As she hit the floor and tumbled across it, she couldn't help but think that he was toying with her. If he'd truly wanted to immobilize her by now, he probably could have with one of those vortexes of his… unless he could only use one type of wind at a time. He'd given up on pinning her to the wall in order to rip her shirts after all…. But even if that _was_ the case, she wasn't sure what good it would do her.

A second slice of wind hit her from above, slamming her to the floor and pinning her there, dragging another yell from her. Gritting her teeth, she braced her palms against the ground and used all her strength to try and push up against the force. But it was no use, and soon he had her flat as a pancake.

Strangely, with her ear pressed to the ground she picked up another set of very odd sounds under the roar of the wind… deep rumbles and crashes.

…

.

…

Meanwhile, Natsu had ended up facing off against two more 'captains'… a brown-haired guy with a scar closing one of his eyes, and a black and white haired… person. It was kinda hard to tell whether the second one was a guy or a girl with all the makeup they were wearing, but he was pretty sure it was a guy based off the voice. Either way, he didn't really care.

All he cared about was that these two were pretty damn tough, and he was having a heck of a time with them. Scar-face was shooting poison at him, and Natsu had learned real quick not to let the guy get his hands on him. He'd almost made that mistake once, but luckily dodged the grab and a chunk of the wall behind him got melted instead.

Lipstick dude was just as bad though and kept popping out illusions, making their surroundings go funky in all kinds of weird ways. Dealing with both at once would've been almost impossible… except he still had an ace up his sleeve.

Dragon Force. It was the last spell his master had given him, and it was one he usually didn't have to use… which was lucky since it drained so much of his magic.

He never would've imagined he'd have to pull it out here, but he really needed the boost in magic and physical abilities it would give him… and even more than that, he needed the enhanced senses. So, he focused on letting his fire magic built up inside himself instead of pushing it outwards, and the ancient spell kicked in really quick. His blood turned hot and felt like it was burning him from the inside out. The brief agony made him shout, and he staggered and almost went to his knees.

Starting up Dragon Force always knocked him on his ass for a few seconds, but he also exploded with fire at the same time, so anyone trying to use his weakness would get blown sky-high.

Then the pain was over, and all he felt was fire and power flooding his body. His sense of hearing and smell sharpened until he could hear a pin drop from a mile away and scents were so intense that he could practically taste them. The first time he'd used this form, he had almost gone crazy with the overstimulation, and it'd taken years to master.

When his eyes snapped open, fire filled his vision for a second until he forced the flames down and wrestled them back under control.

"Ah yeah… now I've got a fire in my belly," he snarled, feeling the heat building up inside him until he thought he'd pop.

He only had one opponent left, since it looked like Scar-face had tried to get him when he was down. The guy had been hit face first with an explosion, and he was out for the count.

Lipstick dude was trying to hide it by projecting fake images of Scar-face and masking his body… but there was no way he could fool Natsu anymore. His senses were so sharp, he knew where they were with his eyes closed. He could hear their heartbeats and smell their bodies – which was actually pretty disgusting. He didn't really _like_ getting a nose-full of their sweat, but it was just another thing he'd had to get used to so he could use Dragon Force.

Natsu didn't waste any time and went straight for Pretty Boy, punching him square in the face and sending him flying down the hall. He hit a wall with a bang and flopped to the ground like a wet dishrag…. And that was the end of that. All the weird surroundings, monsters, and stuff that the guy had been projecting disappeared.

It was totally fine that they were both out cold, 'cause with Dragon Force on he didn't need anyone to tell him where the king was, or where Lucy was for that matter. All he had to do was focus on the sounds and smells around him… and….

A scream shot through his ears, almost knocking him right outta Dragon Force. He'd know that voice anywhere, and every hair on his body stood up at the sound of her so scared. Before he even planned to, his body was already moving on its own. He shot through the halls and barely felt his muscles burning… all his focus was on the sound of Lucy and how to get to her.

Pretty soon, he skidded to a stop because her scent had smacked him in the nose. He'd only smelled her a couple of times with his weak human senses, but there was no doubt it was her scent. It'd punched him like a hammer to the face… especially 'cause the tangy iron-y part of it meant blood.

He only stopped for a split second to deal with the intense affect her scent had on his body, and then he was off running again, even faster if that was possible. Her smell was like a rope tied to his nose yanking him along, and he could barely keep up with his body. More than once he turned a corner too quick and slammed off the other wall, leaving it totaled behind him.

Soon he could smell her sweat, fresh blood, and tears and he could hear her breathing… which sounded fast and panicky.

He managed to round the last corner without banging into anything, so when he finally busted into the room he knew Lucy was in, everyone inside was caught by surprise. It was obvious that they hadn't heard him coming – which was kinda hard to believe – but there was no way he could've caught them in that position if they'd had a warning.

They stared at him for a second with big eyes, and he looked back at them too… feeling shocked as hell. It took him way longer than it should've to really understand what the fuck was going on.

The bastard that Natsu assumed was Erigor had Lucy by the hair on her knees in front of him, and she was weirdly stiff and still, like he had her tied up with an invisible spell. Shreds of a shirt hung from one of her shoulders and she was covered in welts, scrapes, bruises, and cuts. But there was something going on even worse than that, and Natsu could barely believe his eyes. Lucy had her jaw clenched tight and Erigor was trying to shove his thumb in her mouth to open it up…

… and the fucking bastard was in the process of taking his dick outta his pants.

In some random part of Natsu's brain, he thought that this guy was an absolute idiot, because it was really clear that Lucy would bite his dick off if he gave her the chance. She was clenching her jaw so hard that Natsu could hear her teeth grinding together.

But mostly his mind was blank with absolute rage. He didn't even wait for the fucker to tuck himself back into his pants before he punched the guy with a fistful of fire. Unfortunately, he realized a second later that the spell holding Lucy was wind-based, because his fire whipped from Erigor to circle her and she screamed.

…

.

…

Lucy had no idea what was going on… she only knew that she'd come dangerously close to having her mouth violated and now she was on fire.

Luckily it looked like being punched in the face had stunned Erigor enough that he dropped his wind spell, and she immediately fell to the ground and rolled around to put out the few flames that stuck around. It had been such a brief flash of fire that it hadn't had much of a chance to catch her. Though she might have lost a few arm hairs, there wasn't any damage to show for it.

As soon as she was sure all the fires were put out, she scrambled to her feet and watched the scene unfolding in front of her. The man who had come barreling into the room was facing partially away from her, having twisted to punch Erigor. He was also pretty close to her, so she had a very good view of him now that he wasn't completely covered in fire.

Her eyes briefly skimmed over his black boots, white pants, black skirt-thing, and black shirt… but they lingered on his muscular right side which was exposed by the gaping diagonal neckline of his shirt. His right arm was covered in tattooed dragon scales that went all the way down to his wrist – though they started becoming scattered mid-forearm and were almost completely gone by the time they got to his wrist. They were bigger over his shoulder and back, looking almost like scaled armor, and she also noted that there was a red emblem on top of the scales on his shoulder.

The tattoo was so well done that it almost looked real, especially with the very real fire licking over his skin, and it held her attention for a full minute or two. Then her eyes slid up over a couple of nasty scars on his neck, jaw, and cheek area and finally landed on a shocking head of pink spiky hair… which made something finally click in her mind.

Reports of a pink-haired fire mage with scale tattoos and scars on his neck and face ran through her head, and she gasped, realizing that she was staring at the Dragon.

"You're…" she whispered, and his eyes snapped from Erigor to her.

His gaze was feral and glowed unnaturally gold, with slitted pupils like a dragon. It was such a shock that she didn't recognize the face behind those eyes for a few seconds.

"Hey, Lucy. Sorry for getting here late."

That voice possibly shocked her more than anything else, and instead of gasping she felt like the air had been punched from her lungs, leaving her breathless. Her eyes skittered over his face, skimming past the odd pink hair and golden eyes, and to her utter disbelief what she saw were very familiar sharp features.

Though she'd never seen him look so utterly ferocious, it was definitely Natsu staring back at her.

"Na…tsu…" she whispered brokenly, not really sure if the sudden wave of tears that came over her was from relief, joy, shock, confusion, fear, or shame. There were so many emotions inside her that she could barely distinguish one from another.

She had no idea why or how he was suddenly here, and she honestly didn't know how to react to his sudden appearance… especially when he'd shown up at such a humiliating moment. Having him walk in on Eisenwald trying to violate her was incredibly disturbing, and she had no idea how to deal with it – aside from being completely ashamed. However, she was also **_extremely_** grateful for the intervention. There was something remarkable and almost magical about having the man she loved come and rescue her from such a terrible situation… it almost felt like something from a fairy tale.

Speaking of white knights, dragons, and fiery avenging angels… he definitely looked the part. Everything about his appearance made him look like a completely different person. From his exotic clothing, fierce-looking tattoos, muscular body, and crazy hair… to his feral glowing eyes, fiery magic, vicious attacks, and murderous expression. Finding out that he was actually the Dragon had definitely thrown her for a loop, and she wasn't sure if she was a little scared of him now or starstruck. It was going to take a while for her to assimilate this new version of Natsu into the person she'd fallen in love with.

Ultimately though, the one emotion that cut through everything else and made her smile at him through her tears was simply the joy and relief she felt from seeing him again.

However, her smile immediately dropped when Eisenwald stood back up and shook himself off, seeming unhurt.

Natsu's head whipped around and he snarled at the other man, a growl rumbling up from his chest that definitely didn't sound human.

"You should stay down…. 'Cause I'm _this_ close to killing you right now."

The king huffed, not looking particularly worried. "Honestly, I'm shocked you managed to get through my captains. But there's no way you can defeat me."

"Ya wanna bet?" Natsu growled, obviously really, _really_ angry.

When he burst into flames a few seconds later, Lucy gasped and flinched back, feeling a wave of unbelievable heat scald her face. He immediately cut down the blaze and glanced back at her.

"Shit…" he hissed, probably cussing because he realized he couldn't fight with her there.

Before she knew what was going on, he'd grabbed her and they were moving very fast, ripping a scream of surprise from her. He had turned off the fire, but his hands and body were still exceptionally hot, nearly burning her. Really, she should have flinched away from the dangerous and almost painful sensation… but because it was him, she wrapped her arms around his neck instead and buried her face in his chest, blindly trusting that he wouldn't cook her alive.

The sound of glass shattering made her wince, but she didn't feel a single cut. However, her flipping stomach _did_ suddenly alert her to the fact that they were now falling, and she gripped Natsu even tighter, wondering if he was crazy.

They came to a halt with a bone jarring jolt, but somehow it only stopped him for a moment before he was off running again. She risked peeking over his shoulder and looked up to see the broken window on the top floor where they'd just plummeted from. It was crazy that they had survived the fall… much less that Natsu was still running like nothing had happened. Just how strong was he?!

He darted across the lawns and gardens behind the castle and only stopped once he'd reached the edge of the forest that had taunted her from her window. Once they were concealed by thick foliage, he set her on her feet again… and she almost instantly fell over. Her legs had turned to jelly, and he quickly grabbed her again before she could faceplant on the forest floor.

"Woah! You okay?" he yelped as he steadied her.

"Um… I think so?" she responded, definitely knowing that her mental and emotional status was far from okay, but her body was mostly in one piece at least.

"Okay, good. Ya scared me there for a second," he huffed, and then she finally saw him smile.

The familiar facial expression was enough to make her tear up again…. though unfortunately that made his smile drop, and he gave her a worried questioning look.

"I… I thought I'd never see your smile again. Or… just… see _you_ again…" she whispered, reaching out to touch his face but pulling back at the last second.

He wasn't having that though, and his hands immediately shot out and pulled her to him, tucking her face into the crook of his neck. She shivered, tensing for a moment at the feel of hands on her… but the searing warmth of his were so different from Eisenwald's that she almost immediately relaxed again. Her heart thundered in her ears as she clutched his shirt and pressed her forehead to the burning skin of his neck.

A million thoughts and feelings flooded her body and mind until she didn't know what was up or down anymore. Every possible emotion warred for precedence, but she did her best to just focus on the fact that Natsu was really here with her.

Eventually he released her and gently pulled away from her grip so he could take a step back. Before she could even ask what he was doing, he answered her question.

"I've gotta go now, Luce. I have some shit to wrap up in there…" He jerked his thumb back at the castle, and her eyes widened.

"You mean you're going back?!"

"Yeah, but it shouldn't take too long. You just wait right here, and I'll be back in a sec. 'Kay?"

"Wait!..."

As he turned away, she quickly grabbed onto his shirt and stopped him. Fear shot through her as she thought about the possibility of him getting hurt… or even killed. She knew from experience that Eisenwald wasn't someone to be messed with.

"He's too powerful! You could be hurt! Or… or worse…"

He halfway turned back and shot her one of his big grins over his shoulder. "You worry too much, Luce! I'll be fine… I'm the Dragon remember?"

The reminder made her hands drop back to her sides, and she weakly nodded, watching him run off into the shadows. '_That's right… he's the Dragon. But it's still so hard to believe…_' Her brain hurt from trying to reconcile the two.

Still, it was comforting to know that he was insanely strong and could handle himself in a fight. So, she dropped to the ground and propped her back against a nearby tree, settling in to wait for him.

…

.

…

Natsu didn't wanna leave her there, but he had to deal with Erigor and teach him a lesson before they could leave. Otherwise it'd be way too obvious that he'd just come here to rescue Luce.

But he definitely planned to make this as quick as he could, and he even used some firepower to boost his speed on the way back to the castle. He was running a little low on magic after using Dragon Force for so long, but he had more than enough to kick Erigor's ass.

When he got there, he used a burst of flames from his feet to leap right back in through the window he'd busted. Then, he took a deep sniff to track the bastard's scent… but that turned out to be a really sucky idea because the smells in this room almost made him puke. Lucy's blood, sweat, tears, and other stuff that he REALLY didn't wanna identify soaked the room.

If he'd been pissed at Erigor before, he was livid now – and he hadn't even thought he _could_ get angrier at the guy after what he'd seen earlier. Just thinking about what that fucker had done to Lucy made him see red, and he could feel himself go into a deep bloodlust that he didn't even try to fight.

This bastard's ass was gonna burn.

Using Dragon Force usually made his animal instincts stronger, and right now they were roaring at him to kill the person who'd hurt Lucy. He was pretty sure his instincts were thinking of her as his 'mate'… which was kinda weird, but he didn't waste too much time thinking about it, 'cause he had bigger fish to fry.

Cracking his knuckles to let off a little steam, he stalked outta the bedroom and sniffed around again, picking up on Erigor's smell right away. Actually, he could clearly hear the jerkwad too, which meant he hadn't gone far. Natsu felt himself grin in a really nasty way as he thought, '_This dude's gonna be super easy to track._'

He kicked himself into high gear again and tore through the halls in hot pursuit, and it literally took him one minute to find the guy.

"Go secure the vault!" Erigor shouted at a bunch of guards when he showed up, and they all ran off.

Natsu quickly memorized their scents so he could track them down after he was done with Erigor. Whenever he was on one of these jobs, he always made it his business to check out the treasury after he'd finished dealing with the king or queen, 'cause he liked to burn all their important stuff. It tended to take the royal bastards down a peg or two and show them he meant business.

"Well, you're certainly a cocky bastard. I didn't expect you to come back and seek me out," Erigor huffed, sounding like an arrogant idiot.

Natsu couldn't wait to get this shit started.

"You're gonna pay for what you've done… **bastard**," he snarled, punching his fist into his open palm and letting an explosion pop out around his hands.

His opponent slid into a fighting stance and shot back, "The only one who's going to pay for anything is _you_."

'_So he's gonna be **that** kinda ruler,'_ Natsu thought to himself, and his lips twisted in a weird way since he was too pissed to smirk.

Over the years of kicking butts, he'd noticed that there were a couple different types of rulers. The ones he hated most were the ones who tried to buy him off… and they usually turned into the other kind that he hated, which were the ones who begged and cried for their lives. Then there were the cocky ones that thought they could fight back – or had an army that could fight back – and they were a hell of a lot more fun to bring down.

'Course, right now Natsu wasn't too concerned with _fun_… but if Erigor fought back, he could kick the guy's ass even harder. And that _did_ make him happy in a very dark kinda way.

He broke the stare-off first and launched himself full-force at the guy who'd hurt Lucy. Erigor met his fiery punch with a slash of wind that tossed him back and blew away his flames… but that just made his fire go sideways, and it landed on a nearby tapestry and lit it up. Erigor glanced at it and grimaced, but he didn't say anything. He just punched the air again and made a swirly gesture, which summoned a big-ass tornado in the hallway. It knocked Natsu right back down the way he'd come, and Erigor followed close behind, keeping up the attack of wind.

It didn't take Natsu long to realize that his opponent could do several really annoying things. He could send long slashes of wind that acted like invisible swords, pop a tornado out of nowhere, and redirect the air to suck Natsu's fire away. Even more irritating though, was when the jerk wrapped wind around himself like a set of armor that Natsu couldn't touch without being chewed up and having his fire put out.

They fought for a few hard minutes, with Natsu getting more and more ticked off by the second. Since he was already in Dragon Force, he could've just used a Dragon Roar to finish the fight. But that would've totally wiped out Erigor – and probably most of the castle – and Natsu knew he couldn't actually kill the guy unless he absolutely had to. Gramps would have his head if he offed someone without permission, and they didn't even have a backup ruler in place for this kingdom yet.

So that was off the table, but he still had plenty he could do. He wasn't great with science or anything, but he did know that fire ate air for fuel… or something like that... and he figured if he could get his flames big enough and hot enough they'd start messing up Erigor's magic. That was the plan anyway.

To do it, he exploded with fire and ramped up the heat as high as he could by thinking about how much he wanted to pulverize this creep for Lucy. Which was a piece of cake, 'cause he was pretty sure he'd never hated anyone else's guts so much before. When the hallway started glowing red-hot, he took it as a sign that he was going in the right direction and poured even more power into the inferno.

It didn't take long for Erigor's wind armor to get sucked away, and Natsu grinned as he watched the windbag's expression go from cocky to shocked and then scared.

Once his flames had pulled all of Erigor's ammunition away, he charged and finally started to land some hits – starting with a fist to the gut. When he doubled up, Natsu took the opportunity to rearrange the bastard's face with a fiery knee, and several very satisfying crunches told him that he'd been successful.

As Erigor staggered back with a wet scream, Natsu kept on his ass, grabbing his poofy white hair and using it to smack him face-first into the wall. Then he literally drove his foot up his ass. Something cracked, and Erigor screamed and dropped to the ground holding his butt, which let Natsu know that he'd probably broken the guy's pelvis or hip instead of his spine.

That put the bastard out of commission and ended the fight. He landed like a lump on the ground and stayed there, wrapping his wind around him like a pathetic cocoon to try and keep Natsu out.

Not that it worked.

Natsu squatted by Erigor's head and punched through the weak shield with his fire. Then he grabbed the guy by his neck and lifted him up with one hand... not caring too much that his hand was on fire. The smell was real nasty, but he pretty much ignored it.

He stood, letting Erigor dangle from his neck. When he started screaming, Natsu squeezed harder to cut it off - 'cause he didn't wanna have to talk over all that racket.

"Alright, let's keep this short and sweet. You know who I am, so you know why I'm here. You suck as a king. This is your first warning. If you don't fix things, Fairy Tail will be back to give you another warning, and it's gonna be a hell of a lot worse than this one. We'll make sure you wish you weren't even born. Got it?"

He waited until Erigor nodded urgently and gurgled something that was probably a 'yes,' and then he dropped the fucker.

Erigor hit the ground with a scream and writhed in pain.

Natsu narrowed his eyes at the bastard's burnt neck and messed up face, thinking, _'Good. That'll leave a mark, so this fucker never forgets me.' _Honestly, he wanted to do a heck of a lot more damage to the bastard and yell at him for hurting Lucy. But that wouldn't be good for her, or for Fairy Tail if she joined. Most of their members tried to keep their real identities secret.

So, Natsu turned and left him there without another word.

Before he could change his mind, he followed the smell of those guards from before, which led him straight to the vault he was looking for. When he got there, it was bolted shut and had a whole squad in front of it... not that either of those stuck around for very long.

Soon Natsu was in the room tearing stuff up. He checked out a small safe first, which turned out to be magic proofed, so he headed back outside the room and searched all the unconscious guards for a key. One of them had a whole ring of the little fuckers, so Natsu headed back inside with a lot of cusses and messed around with it until the metal box popped open.

Inside it he found a bunch of important looking documents and started digging around, pulling out big fancy envelopes, scrolls, and stuff like that. He took a quick look at each one before lighting it up and dropping it to burn at his feet. It didn't take long to finally find what he was looking for, and a deep growl that he couldn't make outside of Dragon Force came outta his chest when he saw Lucy's sloppy signature. It was obviously forced, and he had a heck of a time keeping himself from hunting down Erigor again and doing even more permanent damage to the bastard.

That one, he crumpled up in his fist and burned thoroughly, watching it closely as it turned to ash. Then he set fire to the rest of the box's contents without looking at anything else.

After that, he turned and shot fire into the rest of the room, setting the entire place ablaze. He crushed jewelry and other metals and jewels in his fists, stomped on statues, knocked over vases… basically just destroyed everything in sight until his bloodlust was a little more under wraps.

When he eventually felt sorta satisfied, Natsu stomped outta the vault and followed his own scent back to Lucy's room and out the window. It was lucky for Erigor that Natsu didn't run into him again… 'cause he wasn't sure he could've given the guy another free pass.

After he'd jumped out the window, he finally let Dragon Force go and staggered when a wave of weakness made him feel heavy and clumsy. It wore off after a minute or two – though he still felt totally wiped – and as soon as he could, he set off at a tired jog back to where he'd left Lucy.

His spirits lifted at the thought of seeing her, and he sped up a little despite being so beat.

Finding her was easy enough, but it took him longer than if he'd been able to follow her scent… which was a pain in the ass. But he was pretty much able to retrace his steps most of the way, and he spotted her within probably ten minutes.

"Hey! I'm back! Let's get outta here!"

She jumped and he sorta felt bad about startling her when she shot a wide-eyed look his way. Her expression was all panicky at first, but then it switched to relief and she practically launched herself at him. She hit him so hard that he stumbled back a couple of steps when she crashed into his chest.

"Thank god you're okay! Don't ever scare me like that again!"

He grinned and was gonna hug her, but she pulled back just as quickly as she'd hugged him and wrapped her arms around herself instead. That left him feeling sorta awkward and disappointed with his arms out in front of him, and he let them flop back to his sides after a sec.

"I told ya not to worry," he said, thinking that she was overreacting a little.

"I… I guess…. But I just…"

Overall, she looked pretty freaked-out and scared, which he figured was understandable after everything that'd happened. But now she was free, and he could finally take her home with him like he'd been wanting to for what felt like forever.

"Come on, Luce…!"

He wasn't able to keep the grin off his face as he grabbed her hand and started dragging her into the forest behind him. Once he was all disguised again – and she was patched up – they could figure out how to get off this island. '_Probably in another boat…_' he thought to himself with a grimace.

"Wh-where are we going?! Do you have a plan?!" she yelped from behind him and he shot her a smile over his shoulder.

"I'm taking you back home with me!"

"Home? You mean…"

"To Fairy Tail!"

"Fairy Tail…" she repeated, looking a little dazed. "I'm really… going to Fairy Tail…"

"Yep!"

He finally saw a little light spark back in her eyes and she sent him a tearful smile.

"Okay!"

* * *

**End Note:**

Okay, don't kill me for ending it there. That really was the best spot to stop part one, I promise.

Now, as for part two, I will be publishing part two as a separate story titled The Runaway and the Rebel, so keep your eyes peeled for it. ;D

I'm going to try my best to get it out as fast as I can. A month at most, but maybe three weeks or two weeks. I'm going to start posting as I edit. But fair warning, that will mean that there will probably be a larger gap between the end of part two and whatever I publish next, because normally I finish a work completely, and then start writing the next thing I'm going to publish while I'm publishing the current work.

So anywho, that's the plan.

Now, who would like a couple of little sneak peeks of The Runaway and the Rebel?

* * *

**Chapter One**

_"Natsu? Why didn't you tell me?" she mumbled into his scarf. _

_"Huh? Tell ya what?"_

_Clearing her throat, she pulled back just a little, letting her forehead stay on his collarbone but giving her mouth a little more room to move. "That you're the Dragon. I still can't believe it…"_

_"Oh!... That? Uh, well… 'cause I couldn't?" His response sounded both confused and questioning, like the answer was obvious, and he wasn't sure why she was asking him that right now anyways. _

_"Why couldn't you?" she huffed, not about to give up on her perfect distraction. Fussing at Natsu was safe. _

_"'Cause I was on a secret mission. Duh. If my cover was blown, I wouldn't've been able to do my job."_

**Chapter Two**

_The old dude sounded a lot happier talking to her. "Oh, yes of course. Just put your wrists here and let me see what I can do." _

_He brought out a bunch of fancy magnifiers and gadgets and stuff, and then he leaned over Lucy's arms and started messing with the bracelets. Though in Natsu's opinion, they were handcuffs. _

_After a couple minutes just sitting around waiting for something to happen, Natsu lost his patience and spat, "Well? Can you take them off or not?" _

_"Natsu! Let the man work!" Lucy scolded, and he scoffed, grumbling under his breath. _


End file.
